inging her hands, "you promised you would not leave
me till I am dead, and now you go away. Remember, I never saw you before
this morning, but since then you have become more to me than any of my
oldest friends."

"Madame," said the good doctor, "I will do all I can to please you. If
I ask for a little rest, it is in order that I may resume my place with
more vigour to-morrow, and render you better service than I otherwise
could. If I take no rest, all I say or do must suffer. You count on
the execution for tomorrow; I do not know if you are right; but if so,
to-morrow will be your great and decisive day, and we shall both need
all the strength we have. We have already been working for thirteen or
fourteen hours for the good of your salvation; I am not a strong man,
and I think you should realise, madame, that if you do not let me rest a
little, I may not be able to stay with you to the end."

"Sir," said the marquise, "you have closed my mouth. To-morrow is for me
a far more important day than to-day, and I have been wrong: of course
you must rest to-night. Let us just finish this one thing, and read over
what we have written."

It was done, and the doctor would have retired; but the supper came in,
and the marquise would not let him go without taking something. She told
the concierge to get a carriage and charge it to her. She took a cup of
soup and two eggs, and a minute later the concierge came back to say the
carriage was at the door. Then the marquise bade the doctor good-night,
making him promise to pray for her and to be at the Conciergerie by six
o'clock the next morning. This he promised her.

The day following, as he went into the tower, he found Father Chavigny,
who had taken his place with the marquise, kneeling and praying with
her. The priest was weeping, but she was calm, and received the doctor
in just the same way as she had let him go. When Father Chavigny saw
him, he retired. The marquise begged Chavigny to pray for her, and
wanted to make him promise to return, but that he would not do. She
then turned to the doctor, saying, "Sir, you are punctual, and I cannot
complain that you have broken your promise; but oh, how the time has
dragged, and how long it has seemed before the clock struck six!"

"I am here, madame," said the doctor; "but first of all, how have you
spent the night?"

"I have written three letters," said the marquise, "and, short as they
were, they took a long time to write: one