n by
a thunder-bolt.

But no. The moments slipped by, and Marie-Anne continued her
preparations for supper as if nothing had occurred.

She spread a white cloth over the table, smoothed it with her hands, and
placed a dish upon it.

"What if she should come in here!" thought Blanche.

The fear of punishment which precedes remorse, made her heart beat with
such violence that she could not understand why its throbbing were
not heard in the adjoining room. Her terror increased when she saw
Marie-Anne take the light and go downstairs. Blanche was left alone. The
thought of making her escape occurred to her; but how, and by what way
could she leave the house without being seen?

"It must be that poison does not work!" she said, in a rage.

Alas! no. She knew better when Marie-Anne reappeared.

In the few moments she had spent below, her features had become
frightfully changed. Her face was livid and mottled with purple spots,
her eyes were distended and glittered with a strange brilliancy. She let
the plates which she held fall upon the table with a crash.

"The poison! it begins!" thought Blanche.

Marie-Anne stood on the hearth, gazing wildly around her, as if seeking
the cause of her incomprehensible suffering. She passed and re-passed
her hand across her forehead, which was bathed in a cold perspiration;
she gasped for breath. Then suddenly, overcome with nausea, she
staggered, pressed her hands convulsively upon her breast, and sank into
the armchair, crying:

"Oh, God! how I suffer!"

CHAPTER XLVI

Kneeling by the half-open door, Blanche eagerly watched the workings of
the poison which she had administered.

She was so near her victim that she could distinguish the throbbing of
her temples, and sometimes she fancied she could feel upon her cheek her
rival's breath, which scorched like flame.

An utter prostration followed Marie-Anne's paroxysm of agony. One would
have supposed her dead had it not been for the convulsive workings of
the jaws and her labored breathing.

But soon the nausea returned, and she was seized with vomiting. Each
effort to relieve seemed to wrench her whole body; and gradually a
ghastly tint crept over her face, the spots upon her cheeks became more
pronounced in tint, her eyes appeared ready to burst from their sockets,
and great drops of perspiration rolled down her cheeks.

Her sufferings must have been intolerable. She moaned feebly at times,
and occasionally rendered