h was a Sunday, towards four o'clock in the afternoon, she
expired.

The body was immediately opened, and the physicians attested that the
marquise had died solely from the power of the poison, none of the seven
sword cuts which she had received being, mortal. They found the stomach
and bowels burned and the brain blackened. However, in spite of that
infernal draught, which, says the official report, "would have killed
a lioness in a few hours," the marquise struggled for nineteen days, so
much, adds an account from which we have borrowed some of these details,
so much did nature lovingly defend the beautiful body that she had taken
so much trouble to make.

M. Catalan, the very moment he was informed of the marquise's death,
having with him twelve guards belonging to the governor, ten archers,
and a poqueton,--despatched them to the marquis's castle with orders
to seize his person, that of the priest, and those of all the servants
except the groom who had assisted the marquise in her flight. The
officer in command of this little squad found the marquis walking up and
down, melancholy and greatly disturbed, in the large hall of the castle,
and when he signified to him the order of which he was the bearer, the
marquis, without making any resistance, and as though prepared for
what was happening to him, replied that he was ready to obey, and that
moreover he had always intended to go before the Parliament to accuse
the murderers of his wife. He was asked for the key of his cabinet,
which he gave up, and the order was given to conduct him, with the other
persons accused, to the prisons of Montpellier. As soon as the marquis
came into that town, the report of his arrival spread with incredible
rapidity from street to street. Then, as it was dark, lights came to
all the windows, and people corning out with torches formed a torchlight
procession, by means of which everybody could see him. He, like the
priest, was mounted on a sorry hired horse, and entirely surrounded by
archers, to whom, no doubt, he owed his life on this occasion; for the
indignation against him was so great that everyone was egging on his
neighbours to tear him limb from limb, which would certainly have come
to pass had he not been so carefully defended and guarded.

Immediately upon receiving news of her daughter's death, Madame de
Rossan took possession of all her property, and, making herself a party
to the case, declared that she would never desist f