proaching her
room, and believing that her murderers were returning to make an end
of her, she flew like a madwoman to the window. At the moment of her
setting foot on the window ledge, the door opened: the marquise, ceasing
to consider anything, flung herself down, head first.

Fortunately, the new-comer, who was the castle chaplain, had time to
reach out and seize her skirt. The skirt, not strong enough to bear the
weight of the marquise, tore; but its resistance, slight though it was,
sufficed nevertheless to change the direction of her body: the marquise,
whose head would have been shattered on the stones, fell on her feet
instead, and beyond their being bruised by the stones, received no
injury. Half stunned though she was by her fall, the marquise saw
something coming after her, and sprang aside. It was an enormous pitcher
of water, beneath which the priest, when he saw her escaping him,
had tried to crush her; but either because he had ill carried out his
attempt or because the marquise had really had time to move away, the
vessel was shattered at her feet without touching her, and the priest,
seeing that he had missed his aim, ran to warn the abbe and the
chevalier that the victim was escaping.

As for the marquise, she had hardly touched the ground, when with
admirable presence of mind she pushed the end of one of her long plaits
so far down her throat as to provoke a fit of vomiting; this was the
more easily done that she had eaten heartily of the collation, and
happily the presence of the food had prevented the poison from attacking
the coats of the stomach so violently as would otherwise have been the
case. Scarcely had she vomited when a tame boar swallowed what she had
rejected, and falling into a convulsion, died immediately.

As we have said, the room looked upon an enclosed courtyard; and the
marquise at first thought that in leaping from her room into this
court she had only changed her prison; but soon perceiving a light that
flickered from an upper window of ore of the stables, she ran thither,
and found a groom who was just going to bed.

"In the name of Heaven, my good man," said she to him, "save me! I am
poisoned! They want to kill me! Do not desert me, I entreat you! Have
pity on me, open this stable for me; let me get away! Let me escape!"

The groom did not understand much of what the marquise said to him; but
seeing a woman with disordered hair, half naked, asking help of him, he
took he