Here a clear explanation becomes necessary, inasmuch as the prosecution tried to prove that no jewels had been stolen and that I was the murderer. The jewel problem (la question des bijoux) was perhaps the most complex of all in that mysterious affair; and, although I spoke the whole truth to M. André, who became my examining magistrate after M. Leydet, I was not believed, and there were inevitably such contradictions between the statements I made on the matter at various times that my case became prejudiced. And yet this jewel problem was no problem at all, as the reader will no doubt agree after the following explanation:
Besides the money and the ten large pearls and my mother's jewels, there were stolen on the night of the double murder a diamond crescent, a few minor jewels of no great value, a gold chain and three valuable rings.
The diamond crescent which was stolen had been given me by President Faure, but I had a similar one at Bellevue, given me by my husband, from which it had been copied (only with better stones, as I stated before). I had thus been able in the days of Félix Faure to wear his crescent (worn as a brooch or in the hair) without my husband being able to make remarks. True, the President had given me a brooch with the three colours of France, and a Lalique comb, but he had done so at the beginning of our acquaintance and in the presence of my husband. I may at once say that the comb was in a cabinet in the drawing-room, and was not stolen. The cornflower-marguerite-poppy brooch was stolen, but I did not mention it, because it would have led to questions about my friendship with Félix Faure.
The three rings I possessed in triplicate: Firstly the three given me by my husband; secondly, three exact copies of them given me—two by the Attorney-General, one by the President—and thirdly, three exact copies in paste.
Why this last set? Because at one time of financial difficulties, my husband had asked me to let him pledge the three rings he had given me, and I consented, after he had had those rings cheaply copied in paste, so that our friends might not notice that my rings were gone. For how could I at that time wear the other three real rings without my husband noticing it at once? Afterwards, the pledged rings were redeemed, and so it happened that I possessed, before the night of May 30th-31st, three sets of similar rings.
I may add here that there are hundreds of ladies in Paris— even among the very wealthy—who have paste copies of their jewels, if only for safety's sake.
At Bellevue, I always had the real rings given me by my husband, and the paste ones. I wore the real ones at home and the paste ones when I went out for walks in the woods or on business.
Where were all these rings at the time of the crime? The three real rings (given me by M. B. and Félix Faure) were in the drawer of the wardrobe at my house in the Impasse Ronsin. The three real rings (given me by my husband) were at Vert-Logis. When I left Bellevue to come to Paris and fetch my mother at the station, I had put on the three false rings, leaving the three rings (given me by my husband) at Vert-Logis. When I massaged my mother I took those rings off, and took them upstairs when we retired. Those three false rings were therefore stolen by the murderers, together with the three real rings (given me by friends), the diamond crescent (the President's), a gold chain, and the tricolour brooch.
Fearing the consequences—to my daughter's future and to my reputation—which would follow the discovery that I had received jewels from "friends," I did not mention these, and when I gave the list of what had been stolen, I merely described the rings, without adding that I had possessed three sets of them.
The three rings given me by my husband, I intended to have altered, having some of the stones made up with new by M. Souloy, for Marthe, with whom, I may add, I had several times talked over the matter and discussed designs. For obvious reasons of elementary delicacy, I did not want to use for these presents to my daughter stones taken from the rings given me by "friends."