the indignation of the public at sight of the
torture uselessly inflicted on an old woman who had already been
sufficiently punished. The prefect's words, "without scandal," showed
how popular feeling in Rouen had revolted at the verdict. More than one
story got afloat. As the details of the trial were very imperfectly
known, no journal having published the proceedings, it was said that the
Marquise's only crime was her refusal to denounce her daughter, and
widespread pity was felt for this unhappy woman who was considered a
martyr to maternal love and royalist faith. Perhaps some of this
universal homage was felt even in the prison, for towards the middle of
February the Marquise seemed calmer and morally strengthened. The
authorities profited by this to order her punishment to proceed. It was
February the 17th, and as one of her "attacks" was feared, they
prudently took her by surprise. She was told that Dr. Ducolombier,
coming from Chauveau-Lagarde, asked to see her at the wicket. She went
down without suspicion and was astonished to find in place of the man
she expected, two others whom she had never seen. One was the
executioner Ferey, who seized her hands and tied her. The doors opened,
and seeing the gendarmes, the cart and the crowd, she understood, and
bowed her head in resignation.

On the Place du Vieux-Marche the scaffold was raised, and a post to
which the text of the verdict was affixed. The prisoner was taken up to
the platform; she seemed quite broken, thin, yet very imposing, with her
still black hair, and her air of "lady of the manor." She was dressed in
violet silk, and as she persisted in keeping her head down, her face was
hidden by the frills of her bonnet. To spare her no humiliation Ferey
pinned them up; he then made her sit on a stool and tied her to the
post, which forced her to hold up her head.

What she saw at the foot of the scaffold brought tears of pride to her
eyes. In the first row of the crowd that quietly and respectfully filled
the place, ladies in sombre dresses were grouped as close as possible to
the scaffold, as if to take a voluntary part in the punishment of the
old Chouanne; and during the six hours that the exhibition lasted the
ladies of highest rank and most distinguished birth in the town came by
turns to keep her company in her agony; some of them even spread flowers
at the foot of the scaffold, thus transforming the disgrace into an
apotheosis.

The heart of the Mar