Mademoiselle de Tourville and her father had escaped from the Terrorists of France by the aid of, and in company with, the Chevalier la Houssaye, with whom M. de Tourville had previously had but very slight acquaintance.  The chevalier soon professed a violent admiration for Eugenie; and having contrived to lay M. de Tourville under heavy pecuniary obligations at play—­many of them Mademoiselle de Tourville had only very lately discovered—­prevailed upon his debtor to exert his influence with his daughter to accept La Houssaye’s hand in marriage.  After much resistance, Mademoiselle de Tourville, overcome by the commands, entreaties, prayers of her father, consented, but only on condition that the marriage should not take place till their return to France, which it was thought need not be very long delayed, and that no more money obligations should in the meantime be incurred by her father.  La Houssaye vehemently objected to delay; but finding Eugenie inexorable, sullenly acquiesced.  It was precisely at this time that the engagement with Mrs. Rushton was accepted.  On the previous afternoon Mademoiselle de Tourville, on leaving Harley Street after the scene with the deceased lady, went directly home, and there found both her father and the chevalier in hot contention and excitement.  As soon as La Houssaye saw her, he seized his hat, and rushed out of the apartment and house.  Her father, who was greatly excited, had barely time to say that he had fortunately discovered the chevalier to be a married man, whose wife, a woman of property, was still living in Languedoc, when what had always been predicted would follow any unusual agitation happened:  M. de Tourville suddenly placed his hand on his side, uttered a broken exclamation, fell into a chair, and expired.  It was about two hours after this melancholy event that Mrs. Rushton arrived.  The account before given of the interview which followed was substantially confirmed by Mademoiselle de Tourville; who added, that the cordial she had given Mrs. Rushton was one her father was in the constant habit of taking when in the slightest degree excited, and that she was about to give him some when he suddenly fell dead.

We had no doubt, none whatever, that this was the whole, literal truth, as far as the knowledge of Mademoiselle de Tourville extended; but how could we impart that impression to an Old Bailey jury of those days, deprived as we should be of the aid of counsel to address the jury, when in reality a speech, pointing to the improbabilities arising from character, and the altogether unguilty-like mode of administering the fatal liquid, was the only possible defence?  Cross-examination promised nothing; for the evidence would consist of the dying deposition of Mrs. Rushton, the finding of the laurel-water, and the medical testimony as to the cause of death.  The only person upon whom suspicion glanced was La Houssaye, and that in a vague and indistinct manner.  Still, it was necessary to find him without delay,