The lady said that she believed it from her heart.
"Did not Madame, on the night of her _fête_, leave the _salon_ and go out a little after nine o'clock on the terrace at the west side of the Château?"
"Did not Madame aver that she then heard two shots fired, at a considerable distance from the Château?"
"Could Madame have been mistaken as to the second report? Is Madame certain that she distinguished more than one?"
The Countess said that she undoubtedly heard a second.
"Still, might not Madame have been deceived--by an echo, for instance?"
The lady was convinced of the accuracy of her statement.
Here there was a pause of some minutes, during which the lawyers whispered together, and the Lieutenant of Police conferred with the Judge.
"How long an interval elapsed, Madame, between the two reports?"
"Scarcely a minute, I should think," replied the Countess.
There was another pause. Then the Lieutenant of Police thanked her for her information, and intimated that, for the present, she would not be troubled farther.
Some _gendarmes_ were then summoned, and gave their evidence as follows:--
_Paul Dubourg, gendarme_ in the _Baillage_ of St. Flour. "I have examined the body and firearms of the late Baron, in the presence of M. le Lieutenant of Police. A musket was found lying beside the body, and a brace of pistols were in his riding-belt. None of these had been discharged. All the pieces were loaded."
_Lieut._ "Should you suppose that the Baron had made any defence?"
_P. Dubourg._ "Evidently none, Monsieur."
_Michel Perrin, gendarme_ in the _Baillage_ of St. Flour, corroborated the testimony of Paul Dubourg.
_Monsieur Berthet_, Surgeon, was then called for. He testified that the Baron de Pradines had died of a fracture of the skull caused by a wound in the temple. The wound was given by a musket-ball, which had struck him three-quarters of an inch above the eyebrow, and entered the brain, He (M. Berthet) had extracted the ball, which he now laid before the Court. From the wound being inflicted in the front of the head, witness concluded that he must have been face to face with the assassin. At the same time, the fact of none of his own weapons being used countenanced the probability of a surprise. Could not conceive how it was possible that _two_ shots should have been fired without the Baron's offering any resistance. Had the first taken effect, there was then no need of a second: whereas, if the first failed, the Baron would surely have defended himself against a second. Had no more to say, and left the witness-box.