ew to the discovery of his accomplices. At the
same time Madame de Brinvilliers was condemned in default of appearance
to have her head cut off.

Lachaussee suffered the torture of the boot. This was having each leg
fastened between two planks and drawn together in an iron ring, after
which wedges were driven in between the middle planks; the ordinary
question was with four wedges, the extraordinary with eight. At the
third wedge Lachaussee said he was ready to speak; so the question was
stopped, and he was carried into the choir of the chapel stretched on a
mattress, where, in a weak voice--for he could hardly speak--he begged
for half an hour to recover himself. We give a verbatim extract from the
report of the question and the execution of the death-sentence:

"Lachaussee, released from the question and laid on the mattress, the
official reporter retired. Half an hour later Lachaussee begged that he
might return, and said that he was guilty; that Sainte-Croix told him
that Madame de Brinvilliers had given him the poison to administer to
her brothers; that he had done it in water and soup, had put the reddish
water in the lieutenant's glass in Paris, and the clear water in the pie
at Villequoy; that Sainte-Croix had promised to keep him always, and
to make him a gift of 100 pistolets; that he gave him an account of the
effect of the poisons, and that Sainte-Croix had given him some of
the waters several times. Sainte-Croix told him that the marquise knew
nothing of his other poisonings, but Lachaussee thought she did know,
because she had often spoken to him about his poisons; that she wanted
to compel him to go away, offering him money if he would go; that she
had asked him for the box and its contents; that if Sainte-Croix
had been able to put anyone into the service of Madame d'Aubray, the
lieutenant's widow, he would possibly have had her poisoned also; for he
had a fancy for her daughter."

This declaration, which left no room for doubt, led to the judgment that
came next, thus described in the Parliamentary register: "Report of
the question and execution on the 24th of March 1673, containing the
declarations and confessions of Jean Amelin Lachaussee; the court
has ordered that the persons mentioned, Belleguise, Martin, Poitevin,
Olivier, Veron pere, the wife of Quesdon the wigmaker, be summoned to
appear before the court to be interrogated and heard concerning matters
arising from the present inquiry, and orde