one of them got out of the cab and went up to Lebret's house, but
which of the two he would not at first say positively. Later he
swore that it was Auguste Ballet. Whatever happened on that
visit to Lebret's--and it was the theory of the prosecution that
Castaing and not Auguste had gone up to the office--the same
afternoon Auguste Ballet showed his mistress the seals of the
copy of his brother's will which Lebret had destroyed, and told
her that Lebret, all through the business, had refused to deal
directly with him, and would only act through the intermediary of
Castaing.

Did Lebret, as a fact, receive the 100,000 francs? A close
examination of his finances showed no trace of such a sum.
Castaing, on the other hand, on October 10, 1822, had given a
stockbroker a sum of 66,000 francs to invest in securities; on
the 11th of the same month he had lent his mother 30,000 francs;
and on the 14th had given his mistress 4,000 francs. Of how this
large sum of money had come to Castaing at a time when he was
practically insolvent he gave various accounts. His final
version was that in the will destroyed by Auguste, Hippolyte
Ballet had left him an income for life equivalent to a capital of
100,000 francs, and that Auguste had given him that sum out of
respect for his brother's wishes. If that explanation were true,
it was certainly strange that shortly after his brother's death
Auguste Ballet should have expressed surprise and suspicion to a
friend on hearing that Castaing had been buying stock to the
value of 8,000 francs. If he had given Castaing 100,000 francs
for himself, there was no occasion for surprise or suspicion at
his investing 8,000. That Auguste had paid out 100,000 francs to
some one in October the state of his finances at his death