presence by both Auguste Ballet and himself, he said that it was
not true; that he had never been to her house. "What motive," he
was asked, "could Mlle. Percillie have for accusing you?"
"She hated me," was the reply, "because I had tried to separate
Auguste from her." Castaing denied that he had driven with
Auguste to Lebret's office on October 8. Asked to explain his
sudden possession of 100,000 francs at a moment when he was
apparently without a penny, he repeated his statement that
Auguste had given him the capital sum as an equivalent for an
income of 4,000 francs which his brother had intended to leave
him. "Why, when first asked if you had received anything from
Auguste, did you say you had received nothing?" was the question.

"It was a thoughtless statement," was the answer. "Why," pursued
the President, "should you not have admitted at once a fact that
went to prove your own good faith? If, however, this fact be
true, it does not explain the mysterious way in which Auguste
asked Prignon to raise for him 100,000 francs; and unless those
100,000 francs were given to you, it is impossible to account for
them. It is important to your case that you should give the jury
a satisfactory explanation on this point." Castaing could only
repeat his previous explanations.

The interrogatory was then directed to the death of Auguste
Ballet. Castaing said that Auguste Ballet had left him all his
fortune on account of a disagreement with his sister. Asked why,
after Auguste's death, he had at first denied all knowledge of
the will made in his favour and deposited by him with Malassis,
he could give no satisfactory reason. Coming to the facts of the
alleged poisoning of Auguste Ballet, the President asked Castaing