wever, without observing this; but the doctor
stopped her, and he and the man stooped down and picked up all the beads,
which they put into her hand. Thanking them humbly for this attention,
she said to the man, "Sir, I know I have now no worldly possessions, that
all I have upon me belongs to you, and I may not give anything away
without your consent; but I ask you kindly to allow me to give this
chaplet to the doctor before I die: you will not be much the loser, for
it is of no value, and I am giving it to him for my sister. Kindly let
me do this."

"Madame," said the man, "it is the custom for us to get all the property
of the condemned; but you are mistress of all you have, and if the thing
were of the very greatest value you might dispose of it as you pleased."

The doctor, whose arm she held, felt her shiver at this gallantry, which
for her, with her natural haughty disposition, must have been the worst
humiliation imaginable; but the movement was restrained, and her face
gave no sign. She now came to the porch of the Conciergerie, between the
court and the first door, and there she was made to sit down, so as to be
put into the right condition for making the 'amende honorable'. Each
step brought her nearer to the scaffold, and so did each incident cause
her more uneasiness. Now she turned round desperately, and perceived the
executioner holding a shirt in his hand. The door of the vestibule
opened, and about fifty people came in, among them the Countess of
Soissons, Madame du Refuge, Mlle. de Scudery, M, de Roquelaure, and the
Abbe de Chimay. At the sight the marquise reddened with shame, and
turning to the doctor, said, "Is this man to strip me again, as he did in
the question chamber? All these preparations are very cruel; and, in
spite of myself, they divert my thoughts, from God."

Low as her voice was, the executioner heard, and reassured her, saying
that they would take nothing off, only putting the shirt over her other
clothes.

He then approached, and the marquise, unable to speak to the doctor with
a man on each side of her, showed him by her looks how deeply she felt
the ignominy of her situation. Then, when the shirt had been put on, for
which operation her hands had to be untied, the man raised the headdress
which she had pulled down, and tied it round her neck, then fastened her
hands together with one rope and put another round her waist, and yet
another round her neck; then, kneeling bef