But it appears that at the same time—early in 1909—this lady spoke about certain anonymous letters and about poisoned chocolates, which she thought I had sent her!
I can imagine the sensation in her drawing-room, and the success of her "at homes." The Steinheil affair was the one topic of conversation everywhere, and here was a hostess who had known that wicked woman, the "Tragic Widow," the "Red Widow," for many, many years! And she had something new to say, something amazingly sensational: she had once received a box of poisoned chocolates from the woman who was accused of having murdered her husband and her mother!...
I can see the ladies forgetting their tea and their petit-fours, pressing eagerly round my "friend" and saying, in hushed tones: "Not really!... You don't mean to say that.... But what a monster that creature must have been.... And to think she was here, in this very room.... My poor dear. ... No, no, we shall not mention this to any one. You can rely on us. But what a dreadful secret!"...
The next day, of course, all the newspapers devoted columns to it.
The mystery ceased to be a mystery: Mme. Steinheil had poisoned the victims and afterwards strangled them, when they were quite defenceless! It was quite clear! The riddle was solved, at last!
Once again, Public Opinion was aroused against me. And from these people who read the newspapers, whose minds were daily being incensed against me—to such an extent, I have heard since, that it was not safe for any one to take my part, even in a salon!—from that enraged Public, twelve men were to be chosen, a few months later, to decide my fate!
I need hardly say that there was not one atom of truth in that atrocious story. In her evidence given before M. André, on January 12th, 1909, my "friend" stated: "Three or four years ago, I received two or three anonymous letters, teasing rather than nasty. I supposed they came from Mme. Steinheil, but I never spoke to her about them. On the occasion of the New Year, at that same period, a box of chocolates, badly packed, was left with my concierge for me. Without tasting them or giving any to any one, not even my dog, I sent those chocolates to the Municipal Laboratory to be analysed. I was told that the chocolates were absolutely harmless. I had taken the whole thing as a joke, which I attributed to the author of the anonymous letters, that is, to Mme. Steinheil. Since then I have found that those chocolates had been sent me by Doctor C."
(Dossier Cote 3058)
A thorough inquiry was made, and its results form a report dated February 9th, 1909, addressed to M. Hamard by Inspector Laurent, in which it is stated that:
"... She (Mme. D.) lost or destroyed the written reply sent by the Laboratory, but remembers that it said the chocolates were harmless.... Dr. C. stated that two or three years ago he had sent to Mme. D. a box of chocolates, but that he had forgotten to send his card with it, so that the lady heard of the origin of the chocolates only when he himself asked her if she had received them. The lady never told him they were 'bad.'