put that down, or--or
perhaps--Eu--genie--perhaps"--

As he spoke, the faint light that had momently kindled his glazing eye
was suddenly quenched; he remained for perhaps half a minute raised on
his elbow, and with his outstretched finger pointing towards the paper,
gazing blindly upon vacancy. Then the arm dropped, and he fell back dead!

We escaped as quickly as we could from this fearful death-room, and I
found that the deposition which Mr. White brought away with him gave a
full, detailed account, written in the French language, of the
circumstances which led to the death of Mrs. Rushton.

La Houssaye, finding that M. de Tourville had by some means discovered
the secret of his previous marriage, and that consequently all hope of
obtaining the hand of Eugenie, whom he loved with all the passion of his
fiery nature, would be gone unless De Tourville could be prevented from
communicating with his daughter, resolved to compass the old man's
instant destruction. The chevalier persuaded himself that, as he should
manage it, death would be attributed to the affection of the heart, from
which M. de Tourville had so long suffered. He procured the distilled
laurel-water--how and from whom was minutely explained--colored, flavored
it to resemble as nearly as possible the cordial which he knew M. de
Tourville--and he only--was in the habit of frequently taking. A
precisely-similar bottle he also procured--the shop at which it was
purchased was described--and when he called in King Street, he found no
difficulty, in an unobserved moment, of substituting one bottle for the
other. That containing the real cordial he was still in possession of,
and it would be found in his valise The unexpected arrival of
Mademoiselle de Tourville frustrated his design, and he rushed in fury
and dismay from the house. A few hours afterwards, he heard of the sudden
death of M. de Tourville, and attributing it to his having taken a
portion of the simulated cordial, he, La Houssaye, fearful of
consequences, hastily and secretly changed his abode. He had subsequently
kept silence till the conviction of Eugenie left him no other
alternative, if he would not see her perish on the scaffold, than a full
and unreserved confession. This done--Eugenie saved, but lost to him--he
had nothing more to live for in the world, and should leave it.

This was the essence of the document; and all the parts of it which were
capable of corroborative proof having been