Chapter 16 Chapter 16 The Berody Case

About twenty years before the beginning of this story, there was a Lyonian named Arnold.Monsieur Bellodi arrived in Paris with his beautiful wife and an infant daughter.Mr. Bellodi was a minority shareholder in a brewery.A stocky middle-aged man who loves the sensuality of life and is devoted to his charming wife, there is nothing extraordinary about him.The small firm that Mr. Berodi had partnered with, although doing well, failed to generate a substantial income for the small shareholder.In the beginning, the Berodi couple had only a small apartment and lived a very simple life. However, although Mr. Bellodi is not outstanding, his wife is very romantic.The young, beautiful and charming Mrs. Bellodi immediately became a sensation in the local area, especially because of her mysterious life experience.According to rumors, she was the illegitimate daughter of a Russian grand duke; others said that she was the illegitimate daughter of an Austrian duke. It is said that the marriage was legal, but her family status was improper.But the legends agree on one point, that Jenny Bellodi is at the center of an interesting anecdote.

Among the Beroldys' friends and acquaintances was a young lawyer named George Connor.It was not long before the charming Jenny had apparently won his heart completely.Mrs. Bellodi cautiously gave the young man various encouragements, but never forgot to express her absolute loyalty to her middle-aged husband.However, many malicious people did not hesitate to claim that the young Connor was her lover - and not the only one: After the Beroldis had lived in Paris for about three months, another figure entered their lives, Mr. Hiram P. Trapp, a wealthy American.After he made acquaintance with the charming and mysterious Mrs. Bellodi, he immediately fell under her pomegranate skirt.He made no secret of his attraction to her.It was about this time that Mrs. Bellodi gradually revealed her secret.She told several friends that she was very worried about her husband because he had been involved in some political plot.She also referred to some very important documents which her husband had been entrusted to keep, concerning a "secret" which had a far-reaching influence on the general situation of Europe, which was kept by her husband in order to obtain People with these documents led astray, but after getting acquainted with several important figures in the Paris Revolutionary Party, Mrs. Bellodi was afraid.

On November 28th, it finally happened.A woman who cleaned and helped the Beroldis every day was surprised to see the door of the flat open.Hearing a faint groan in the bedroom, she walked in.A terrifying scene unfolded in front of her eyes: Mrs. Bellodi was lying on the floor with her hands and feet bound, moaning in pain, and she struggled to spit out the gag.Mr. Berody was on the bed, lying in a pool of blood, and stabbed his head into his heart. Mrs. Berody's statement could not be more clear: when she suddenly woke up from her sleep, she saw two people wearing The masked man looked down at her.Before she could cry out, they tied her hands and feet and gagged her.So they asked Mr. Bellodi for the well-known "secret".

But the intrepid brewer flatly rejected their request.His refusal made one of the men so enraged that he stabbed his head in the heart.They took the keys of the deceased, opened the safe in the corner, and took away a large number of documents.Both had bushy beards and masks, but Madame Beroldi decided they were Russians. The incident was a sensation.With the passage of time, the trace of the mysterious bearded man has never been found.Just as the interest was waning, a startling development took place: Mrs Bellodi was arrested and charged with her husband's murder, the trial aroused widespread interest, and the defendant's youth and beauty, as well as her mysterious This thing becomes causeceler 1.

It turned out that Jenny Bellodi's parents were a very decent ordinary couple--fruit merchants living in the outskirts of Lyon.What Russian Grand Duke, court intrigue, political intrigue, etc., all these legends originated from the lady herself: So her whole life experience was exposed mercilessly.The motive for the murder lay with Mr. Hiram P. Trapp.Mr. Trapp did his best, but ①French: sensational case. ——Annotation When he was questioned mercilessly and swiftly by the judge, he had to admit that he loved the lady, and said that if she had no husband, he would certainly propose to her.Although the relationship between the two is still limited to spiritual aspects, this fact is even more unfavorable to the defendant.Since Trapp is a gentleman, Jenny Bellodi cannot be his mistress, so she devises a plan to get rid of her old and mediocre husband, so that she can do it justifiably. The wife of a wealthy young man in the United States.

From beginning to end, Mrs. Bellodi faced her accuser with ease and composure.Her narrative remains the same.She still insists that she is of noble origin, but was outsourced as a fruit merchant's daughter when she was a child.Although these words are extremely absurd and baseless, many people believe them to be true. But the prosecution is relentless.The two masked "Russians" were dismissed as nonsense, and the murder was believed to have been conspired by Lady Bellodi and her lover George Connor.A warrant of arrest was issued for the latter, but he mysteriously disappeared.Evidence suggests that the rope used to bind Mrs. Bellodi was loose enough for her to break free without difficulty.

Near the end of the trial, prosecutors received a letter from Paris.The letter was written by George Connor, in which he confessed to all his crimes, but concealed his hiding place.He declared that he had been at the instigation of Lady Bellodi to kill her husband.The murder was planned by the two together.He believed that her husband had abused her and that his lust for her had driven him irrational; freed from the shackles.Now, for the first time, he heard of Mr. Hiram P. Trapp, and realized that the woman he loved had betrayed him.It turned out that she wanted to be freed not because of him, but because she wanted to marry that rich American.She had used him, and now, jealous, he turned on her, claiming that he had been on her orders all along.

Now Lady Bellodi proved herself to be a remarkable woman in a worthy name.Without hesitation, she overthrew the previous defense all at once, and admitted that the two "Russians" were purely fabricated by her.The real murderer was George Connor.Conor's infatuation with her caused him to lose his mind and thus commit the crime.He also swore horrific vengeance against her if she made a fuss about it.His threats so frightened her that she agreed, fearing that if she told the truth she might be accused of being an accomplice.But she steadfastly refused to associate with her husband's murderer.He wrote this report letter out of revenge for her attitude.She solemnly swore that she had nothing to do with the crime, and said that on that memorable night she awoke to find George Connor standing looking down at her with a bloodstained knife in his hand.

This transformation can be said to be extremely fast.Mrs. Bellodi's account was hardly convincing, but her statement to the jury was a masterpiece.She tearfully spoke of her children, her reputation as a woman, and her reputation for keeping it clean for her children.She conceded that George Connor had been her lover, so she might be morally responsible for the crime—but she swore to God it was nothing more than that.She knew that she had made a major mistake in not reporting Connor according to the law, and she broke down in tears and said that this was something no woman could do.She had loved him! Could she have allowed him to be guillotined by her own hand? She had been guilty of many crimes, but she was innocent of the monstrous crimes attributed to her.

In any case, her eloquence and character gave her the upper hand.Lady Bellodi was acquitted in rare heated scenes. Despite all efforts of the police authorities, no trace of George Connor was ever heard of.As for Mrs. Bellodi, she also disappeared.She left Paris with her children to start a new life.