nearly
three hours.

The magistrates of Ganges, being informed of what had happened, and
beginning to believe that it was really a case of murder, came in
person, with a guard, to the marquise. As soon as she saw them come in
she recovered strength, and raising herself in bed, so great was her
fear, clasped her hands and besought their protection; for she
always expected to see one or the other of her murderers return. The
magistrates told her to reassure herself, set armed men to guard all
the approaches to the house, and while physicians and surgeons were,
summoned in hot haste from Montpellier, they on their part sent word to
the Baron de Trissan, provost of Languedoc, of the crime that had
just been committed, and gave him the names and the description of the
murderers. That official at once sent people after them, but it was
already too late: he learned that the abbe and the chevalier had slept
at Aubenas on the night of the murder, that there they had reproached
each other for their unskilfulness, and had come near cutting each
other's throats, that finally they had departed before daylight, and had
taken a boat, near Agde, from a beach called the "Gras de Palaval."

The Marquis de Ganges was at Avignon, where he was prosecuting a servant
of his who had robbed him of two hundred crowns; when he heard news of
the event. He turned horribly pale as he listened to the messenger's
story, then falling into a violent fury against his brothers, he swore
that they should have no executioners other than himself. Nevertheless,
though he was so uneasy about the marquise's condition, he waited until
the next day in the afternoon before setting forth, and during the
interval he saw some of his friends at Avignon without saying anything
to them of the matter. He did not reach Ganges until four days after the
murder, then he went to the house of M. Desprats and asked to see his
wife, whom some kind priests had already prepared for the meeting; and
the marquise, as soon as she heard of his arrival, consented to receive
him. The marquis immediately entered the room, with his eyes full of
tears, tearing his hair, and giving every token of the deepest despair.

The marquise receivers her husband like a forgiving wife and a dying
Christian. She scarcely even uttered some slight reproaches about
the manner in which he had deserted her; moreover, the marquis having
complained to a monk of these reproaches, and the monk having reporte