Then we began to hear the most far-fetched ideas, out of unbridled fantasies. Thus, a villager presented himself to the gendarmerie to demonstrate, with strong explanations, that only one person could have committed such a mysterious murder, the witch of the village, Mrs. Gastré, because for sure there was black magic there. Perhaps, too, he had seen in this circumstance the opportunity of getting rid of this woman, who by her mere presence had terrorized Bourg-la-Romaine for so long. In business of this type as well as in wars, one can find the opportunity to take revenge on one's neighbors at a lower cost. But if some local gendarmes could be willing to believe it, the scientific police appeared less convinced.
