after two years of marriage, had demanded a deed of separation, which demand Quennebert had opposed.  While the case was going on she had retired to the convent of La Raquette, where her intrigue with de Jars began.  The commander easily induced her to let herself be carried off by force.  He then concealed his conquest by causing her to adopt male attire, a mode of dress which accorded marvellously well with her peculiar tastes and rather masculine frame.  At first Quennebert had instituted an active but fruitless search for his missing wife, but soon became habituated to his state of enforced single blessedness, enjoying to the full the liberty it brought with it.  But his business had thereby suffered, and once having made the acquaintance of Madame Rapally, he cultivated it assiduously, knowing her fortune would be sufficient to set him straight again with the world, though he was obliged to exercise the utmost caution and reserve in has intercourse with her, as she on her side displayed none of these qualities.  At last, however, matters came to such a pass that he must either go to prison or run the risk of a second marriage.  So he reluctantly named a day for the ceremony, resolving to leave Paris with Madame Rapally as soon as he had settled with his creditors.

In the short interval which ensued, and while Trumeau was hugging the knowledge of the discovery he had made, a stroke of luck had brought the pretended chevalier to La Constantin.  As Quennebert had kept an eye on de Jars and was acquainted with all his movements, he was aware of everything that happened at Perregaud’s, and as Charlotte’s death preceded his second marriage by one day, he knew that no serious consequences would ensue from the legal proceedings taken against him.  He produced the declarations made by Mademoiselle de Guerchi and the commander, and had the body exhumed.  Extraordinary and improbable as his defence appeared at first to be, the exhumation proved the truth of his assertions.  These revelations, however, drew the eye of justice again on Perregaud and his partner in crime, and this time their guilt was brought home to them.  They were condemned by parliamentary decree to “be hanged by the neck till they were dead, on a gallows erected for that purpose at the cross roads of the Croix-du-Trahoir; their bodies to remain there for twenty-four hours, then to be cut down and brought back to Paris, where they were to be exposed an a gibbet,” etc., etc.

It was proved that they had amassed immense fortunes in the exercise of their infamous calling.  The entries in the books seized at their house, though sparse, would have led, if made public, to scandals, involving many in high places; it was therefore judged best to limit the accusation to the two deaths by blood-poisoning of Angelique de Querchi and Charlotte Boullenois.