and hearing the
doctor's answer, only sighed.

"Besides," he continued, "in recalling examples of the kind, madame, you
must not build upon them, please: they are extraordinary cases, not the
rule. You must expect no privilege; in your case the ordinary laws will
be carried out, and your fate will not differ from the fate of other
condemned persons. How would it have been had you lived and died before
the reign of Charles VI? Up to the reign of this prince, the guilty died
without confession, and it was only by this king's orders that there
was a relaxation of this severity. Besides, communion is not absolutely
necessary to salvation, and one may communicate spiritually in reading
the word, which is like the body; in uniting oneself with the Church,
which is the mystical substance of Christ; and in suffering for Him and
with Him, this last communion of agony that is your portion, madame, and
is the most perfect communion of all. If you heartily detest your crime
and love God with all your soul, if you have faith and charity, your
death is a martyrdom and a new baptism."

"Alas, my God," replied the marquise, "after what you tell me, now that
I know the executioner's hand was necessary to my salvation, what should
I have become had I died at Liege? Where should I have been now? And
even if I had not been taken, and had lived another twenty years away
from France, what would my death have been, since it needed the scaffold
for my purification? Now I see all my wrong-doings, and the worst of all
is the last--I mean my effrontery before the judges. But all is not yet
lost, God be thanked; and as I have one last examination to go through,
I desire to make a complete confession about my whole life. You, Sir,
I entreat specially to ask pardon on my behalf of the first president;
yesterday, when I was in the dock, he spoke very touching words to me,
and I was deeply moved; but I would not show it, thinking that if I made
no avowal the evidence would not be sufficiently strong to convict me.
But it has happened otherwise, and I must have scandalised my judges
by such an exhibition of hardihood. Now I recognise my fault, and will
repair it. Furthermore, sir, far from feeling angry with the president
for the judgment he to-day passes against me, far from complaining of
the prosecutor who has demanded it, I thank them both most humbly, for
my salvation depends upon it."

The doctor was about to answer, encouraging her, when the d