murder On 12 January 1840, while the family gathered in the sickroom fearing the worst, Emma Pontier, who had such high regard for Marie, told her of Anna's suspicions. Charles's mother implored him not to take another morsel of food from his wife. Panic ensued when it was learned that Charles's servant and gardener had bought arsenic for Marie "for the rats". Marie admitted this request, but she made the gardener confirm that she gave him the arsenic to make rat-poison paste out of it. Their fears were momentarily allayed, but the next day, white residue was found at the bottom of a glass of sugar water that Marie had administered to Charles. A third doctor, René de Lespinasse, was called on 13 January. He suspected poison, but by then it was too late: Charles died a few hours later. Already, suspicions ran high that Marie had poisoned her husband, but she seemed unfazed. While word went about regarding this suspicion, Marie went to her notary with the will, not knowing that it was invalid. Only Emma would go near her, and already torn by doubts, told Marie that Lafarge's brother-in-law was going to the police at Brive. Anna then took possession of Marie's malachite box. The justice of the peace from Brive, Moran, arrived at Le Glandier on 15 January. Impressed by Marie, he listened with uncertainty to the family's accusations but took possession of the soup, the sugar water and the eggnog that Anna had put aside. Then the gardener revealed that Marie had given him arsenic with which to make rat-poison paste in December as well as January. Strangely, the paste could be found all over the house, untouched by the rats. Moran had the paste collected, his suspicions aroused. He questioned the apothecary who sold the arsenic to Marie and asked Charles's doctors to perform a post-mortem examination. He also learned of a new test for the presence of arsenic that pathologists in Paris were using and asked Lafarge's doctors if they could apply the same test in this case. Dr. Lespinasse hastily replied that they could, hiding their ignorance of the test and the intricacies of its procedure. The Marsh test The test that Moran was referring to was actually invented in 1836 by a Scottish chemist named James Marsh, who worked at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich. Called to help solve a murder nearby,