ars, after this, to have thrown off the mask completely,
and carried on her intrigues so openly with her lover, Sainte Croix, that
her father, M. D'Aubray, scandalised at her conduct, procured a _lettre de
cachet_, and had him imprisoned in the Bastille for a twelvemonth.

[Illustration: THE BASTILLE.]

Sainte Croix, who had been in Italy, was a dabbler in poisons. He knew
something of the secrets of the detestable La Spara, and improved himself
in them from the instructions of Exili, with whom he speedily contracted a
sort of friendship. By him he was shewn how to prepare, not only the
liquid poisons employed in Italy, but that known as _succession powder_,
which afterwards became so celebrated in France. Like his mistress, he
appeared amiable, witty, and intelligent, and shewed no signs to the world
of the two fierce passions, revenge and avarice, which were gnawing at his
heart. Both these passions were to be sated on the unfortunate family of
D'Aubray; his revenge, because they had imprisoned him; and his avarice,
because they were rich. Reckless and extravagant, he was always in want of
money, and he had no one to supply him but Madame de Brinvilliers, whose
own portion was far from sufficient to satisfy his need. Groaning to think
that any impediment should stand between him and wealth, he conceived the
horrid idea of poisoning M. D'Aubray her father, and her two brothers,
that she might inherit the property. Three murders were nothing to such a
villain. He communicated his plan to Madame de Brinvilliers; and she,
without the slightest scruple, agreed to aid him: he undertook to compound
the poisons, and she to administer them. The zeal and alacrity with which
she set to work seem hardly credible. Sainte Croix found her an apt
scholar; and she soon became as expert as himself in the manufacture of
poisons. To try the strength of the first doses, she used to administer
them to dogs, rabbits, and pigeons. Afterwards, wishing to be more certain
of their effects, she went round to the hospitals, and administered them
to the sick poor in the soups which she brought in apparent charity.[39]
None of the poisons were intended to kill at the first dose; so that she
could try them once upon an individual without fear of murder. She tried
the same atrocious experiment upon the guests at her father's table, by
poisoning a pigeon-pie! To be more certain still, she next poisoned
herself! When convinced by this desperate essay of