FRANCE: The Possessed

Lightning flashed, a clap of thunder shattered the air and the lights in a crowded courthouse at Blois (pop. 26,774) flickered out. The superstitious in the audience considered this manifestation something of an omen. There on trial for murder stood straight-haired, sloe-eyed Denise Labbe, 30, and her lover, Jacques Algarron, 26. Ever since their arrest more than a year ago, neighbors and newspaper readers had known the pair as "the Possessed," but cool, handsome Jacques and his pale paramour looked anything but demonic as they sat, clad in black, listening impassively to the charges. The daughter of a poor...

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