CHAPTER I

An invasion of cholera--Aspect of Paris--Medicine and the scourge--Proclamation of the Prefect of Police--The supposed poisoners--Harel's newspaper paragraph--Mademoiselle Dupont--Eugène Durieu and Anicet Bourgeois--Catherine (not Howard) and the cholera--First performance of _Mari de la veuve_--A horoscope which did not come true