before, and affirmed beforehand that any later will which might be
produced would be the effect of fraud or of violence. Then, having made
this verbal declaration, the marquise repeated it in writing, signed the
paper containing it, and gave the paper to be preserved by the honour of
those whom she constituted its guardians. Such a precaution, taken with
such minute detail, aroused the lively curiosity of her hearers. Many
pressing questions were put to the marquise, but nothing could be
extracted from her except that she had reasons for her action which she
could not declare. The cause of this assemblage remained a secret, and
every person who formed part of it promised the marquise not to reveal
it.

On the next day, which was that preceding her departure for Ganges, the
marquise visited all the charitable institutions and religious
communities in Avignon; she left liberal alms everywhere, with the
request that prayers and masses should be said for her, in order to
obtain from God's grace that she should not be suffered to die without
receiving the sacraments of the Church. In the evening, she took leave
of all her friends with the affection and the tears of a person convinced
that she was bidding them a last farewell; and finally she spent the
whole night in prayer, and the maid who came to wake her found her
kneeling in the same spot where she, had left her the night before.

The family set out for Ganges; the journey was performed without
accident. On reaching the castle, the marquise found her mother-in-law
there; she was a woman of remarkable distinction and piety, and her
presence, although it was to be but temporary, reassured the poor fearful
marquise a little. Arrangements had been made beforehand at the old
castle, and the most convenient and elegant of the rooms had been
assigned to the marquise; it was on the first floor, and looked out upon
a courtyard shut in on all sides by stables.

On the first evening that she was to sleep here, the marquise explored
the room with the greatest attention. She inspected the cupboards,
sounded the walls, examined the tapestry, and found nothing anywhere that
could confirm her terrors, which, indeed, from that time began to
decrease. At the end of a certain time; however, the marquis's mother
left Ganges to return to Montpellier. Two, days after her departure, the
marquis talked of important business which required him to go back to
Avignon, and he too left th