t. The marquise appealed to him a third time. "I entreat you, sir,
forgive me; and do not regret the time you have passed with me. You
will say a De Profundus at the moment of my death, and a mass far me
to-morrow: will you not promise?"

"Yes, madame," said the doctor in a choking voice; "yes, yes, be calm,
and I will do all you bid me."

The executioner hereupon removed the board, and helped the marquise out
of the tumbril; and as they advanced the few steps towards the scaffold,
and all eyes were upon them, the doctor could hide his tears for a
moment without being observed. As he was drying his eyes, the assistant
gave him his hand to help him down. Meanwhile the marquise was mounting
the ladder with the executioner, and when they reached the platform he
told her to kneel down in front of a block which lay across it. Then the
doctor, who had mounted with a step less firm than hers, came and knelt
beside her, but turned in the other direction, so that he might whisper
in her ear--that is, the marquise faced the river, and the doctor faced
the Hotel de Ville. Scarcely had they taken their place thus when the
man took down her hair and began cutting it at the back and at the
sides, making her turn her head this way and that, at times rather
roughly; but though this ghastly toilet lasted almost half an hour, she
made no complaint, nor gave any sign of pain but her silent tears. When
her hair was cut, he tore open the top of the shirt, so as to uncover
the shoulders, and finally bandaged her eyes, and lifting her face by
the chin, ordered her to hold her head erect. She obeyed, unresisting,
all the time listening to the doctor's words and repeating them from
time to time, when they seemed suitable to her own condition. Meanwhile,
at the back of the scaffold, on which the stake was placed, stood the
executioner, glancing now and again at the folds of his cloak, where
there showed the hilt of a long, straight sabre, which he had carefully
concealed for fear Madame de Brinvilliers might see it when she mounted
the scaffold. When the doctor, having pronounced absolution, turned his
head and saw that the man was not yet armed, he uttered these prayers,
which she repeated after him: "Jesus, Son of David and Mary, have mercy
upon me; Mary, daughter of David and Mother of Jesus, pray for me; my
God, I abandon my body, which is but dust, that men may burn it and do
with it what they please, in the firm faith that it shall one day