ut he only persisted in saying that he was guiltless of
poisoning. He had an interview with his wife, who nearly fainted on
seeing him, and remained for more than a quarter of an hour unable to say
a word. He lavished tender names upon her, and professed much affliction
at seeing her in so miserable a condition.

When she was taken away, he asked permission to embrace her, and took a
most touching farewell. His last words have been preserved.

"My dear wife," he said, "I recommend our beloved children to your care:
bring them up in the fear of God. You must go to Chartres, you will
there see the bishop, on whom I had the honour of waiting when I was
there last, and who has always been kind to me; I believe he has thought
well of me, and that I may hope he will take pity on you and on our
children."

It was now seven in the evening, and the crowd began to murmur at the
long delay. At length the criminal reappeared. An onlooker who saw him
go to the Hotel de Ville, and who was carried by the movement of the
crowd to the foot of the scaffold, says that when handed over to the
executioner he took off his clothes himself. He kissed the instrument of
punishment with devotion, then extended himself on the St. Andrew's
cross, asking with a resigned smile that they would make his sufferings
as short as possible. As soon as his head was covered, the executioner
gave the signal. One would have thought a very few blows would have
finished so frail a being, but he seemed as hard to kill as the venomous
reptiles which must be crushed and cut to pieces before life is extinct,
and the coup de grace was found necessary. The executioner uncovered his
head and showed the confessor that the eyes were closed and that the
heart had ceased to beat. The body was then removed from the cross, the
hands and feet fastened together, and it was thrown on the funeral pile.

While the execution was proceeding the people applauded. On the morrow
they bought up the fragments of bone, and hastened to buy lottery
tickets, in the firm conviction that these precious relics would bring
luck to the fortunate possessors!

In 1777, Madame Derues was sentenced to perpetual imprisonment, and
confined at the Salpetriere. She was one of the first victims who
perished in the prison massacres.

LA CONSTANTIN--1660

CHAPTER I

Before beginning our story, we must warn the reader that it will not be
worth his while to make researches am