Madame Simonneau was bustling to and fro, actuated by an urgent desire to procure a crucifix and a bough of consecrated box-wood for the dead.

The doctor examined the corpse by the light of a candle.
He was a bulky man with a ruddy complexion.

He breathed noisily.

He had just dined.
"The bullet, a large calibre bullet," he said, "penetrated by way of the palatal vault, traversed the brain and finally fractured the left parietal bone, carrying away a portion of the cerebral substance, and blowing out a piece of the skull.

Death was instantaneous." He returned the candle to Madame Simonneau and continued: "Splinters of the skull were projected to a certain distance.