ontracted, her eyebrows knit, flames darted
from her eyes, her mouth was all twisted. Her whole appearance was
horrible; the devil was once more in possession. During this paroxysm,
which lasted nearly a quarter of an hour, Lebrun, who stood near, got
such a vivid impression of her face that the following night he could not
sleep, and with the sight of it ever before his eyes made the fine
drawing which--is now in the Louvre, giving to the figure the head of a
tiger, in order to show that the principal features were the same, and
the whole resemblance very striking.

The delay in progress was caused by the immense crowd blocking the court,
only pushed aside by archers on horseback, who separated the people. The
marquise now went out, and the doctor, lest the sight of the people
should completely distract her, put a crucifix in her hand, bidding her
fix her gaze upon it. This advice she followed till they gained the gate
into the street where the tumbril was waiting; then she lifted her eyes
to see the shameful object. It was one of the smallest of carts, still
splashed with mud and marked by the stones it had carried, with no seat,
only a little straw at the bottom. It was drawn by a wretched horse,
well matching the disgraceful conveyance.

The executioner bade her get in first, which she did very rapidly, as if
to escape observation. There she crouched like a wild beast, in the left
corner, on the straw, riding backwards. The doctor sat beside her on the
right. Then the executioner got in, shutting the door behind him, and
sat opposite her, stretching his legs between the doctor's. His man,
whose business it was to guide the horse, sat on the front, back to back
with the doctor and the marquise, his feet stuck out on the shafts. Thus
it is easy to understand how Madame de Sevigne, who was on the Pont
Notre-Dame, could see nothing but the headdress of the marquise as she
was driven to Notre-Dame.

The cortege had only gone a few steps, when the face of the marquise, for
a time a little calmer, was again convulsed. From her eyes, fixed
constantly on the crucifix, there darted a flaming glance, then came a
troubled and frenzied look which terrified the doctor. He knew she must
have been struck by something she saw, and, wishing to calm her, asked
what it was.

"Nothing, nothing," she replied quickly, looking towards him; "it was
nothing."

"But, madame," said he, "you cannot give the lie to your own eyes;