rquise free to ask for
and receive the consolations brought her by the man of God. Then the two
sat at a table side by side. The marquise thought she was already
condemned, and began to speak on that assumption; but the doctor told her
that sentence was not yet given, and he did not know precisely when it
would be, still less what it would be; but at these words the marquise
interrupted him.

"Sir," she said, "I am not troubled about the future. If my sentence is
not given yet, it soon will be. I expect the news this morning, and I
know it will be death: the only grace I look for from the president is a
delay between the sentence and its execution; for if I were executed
to-day I should have very little time to prepare, and I feel I have need
for more."

The doctor did not expect such words, so he was overjoyed to learn what
she felt. In addition to what the president had said, he had heard from
Father Chavigny that he had told her the Sunday before that it was very
unlikely she would escape death, and indeed, so far as one could judge by
reports in the town, it was a foregone conclusion. When he said so, at
first she had appeared stunned, and said with an air of great terror,
"Father, must I die?" And when he tried to speak words of consolation,
she had risen and shaken her head, proudly replying--

"No, no, father; there is no need to encourage me. I will play my part,
and that at once: I shall know how to die like a woman of spirit."

Then the father had told her that we cannot prepare for death so quickly
and so easily; and that we have to be in readiness for a long time, not
to be taken by surprise; and she had replied that she needed but a
quarter of an hour to confess in, and one moment to die.

So the doctor was very glad to find that between Sunday and Thursday her
feelings had changed so much.

"Yes," said she, "the more I reflect the more I feel that one day would
not be enough to prepare myself for God's tribunal, to be judged by Him
after men have judged me."

"Madame," replied the doctor, "I do not know what or when your sentence
will be; but should it be death, and given to-day, I may venture to
promise you that it will not be carried out before to-morrow. But
although death is as yet uncertain, I think it well that you should be
prepared for any event."

"Oh, my death is quite certain," said she, "and I must not give way to
useless hopes. I must repose in you the great secrets of my wh