that place; afterwards her body
to be burnt and the ashes scattered; and first she is to be subjected to
the question ordinary and extraordinary, that she may reveal the names of
her accomplices. She is declared to be deprived of all successions from
her said father, brothers, and sister, from the date of the several
crimes; and all her goods are confiscated to the proper persons; and the
sum of 4000 livres shall be paid out of her estate to the king, and 400
livres to the Church for prayers to be said on behalf of the poisoned
persons; and all the costs shall be paid, including those of Amelin
called Lachaussee. In Parliament, 16th July 1676."

The marquise heard her sentence without showing any sign of fear or
weakness. When it was finished, she said to the registrar, "Will you,
sir, be so kind as to read it again? I had not expected the tumbril, and
I was so much struck by that that I lost the thread of what followed."

The registrar read the sentence again. From that moment she was the
property of the executioner, who approached her. She knew him by the
cord he held in his hands, and extended her own, looking him over coolly
from head to foot without a word. The judges then filed out, disclosing
as they did so the various apparatus of the question. The marquise
firmly gazed upon the racks and ghastly rings, on which so many had been
stretched crying and screaming. She noticed the three buckets of water

[Note: The torture with the water was thus administered. There were
eight vessels, each containing 2 pints of water. Four of these were
given for the ordinary, and eight for the extraordinary. The executioner
inserted a horn into the patient's mouth, and if he shut his teeth,
forced him to open them by pinching his nose with the finger and thumb.]

prepared for her, and turned to the registrar--for she would not address
the executioner--saying, with a smile, "No doubt all this water is to
drown me in? I hope you don't suppose that a person of my size could
swallow it all." The executioner said not a word, but began taking off
her cloak and all her other garments, until she was completely naked. He
then led her up to the wall and made her sit on the rack of the ordinary
question, two feet from the ground. There she was again asked to give
the names of her accomplices, the composition of the poison and its
antidote; but she made the same reply as to the doctor, only adding, "If
you do not believe me,