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THE ALUMNI JOURNAL. 



fled to the country and thus saved her 

 life. The Marquise now turned her at- 

 tention to her good-natured old husband; 

 but here Sainte Croix interfered, proba- 

 bly thinking that as a wife she might be 

 somewhat overpowering. And so, while 

 she administered her poison in the morn- 

 ing, Sainte Croix would take occasion to 

 administer an antidote in the afternoon, 

 and the poor old gentleman managed to 

 survive his wife's kindly attentions, al- 

 though somewhat at the expense of his 

 digestion. The Marquise confessed af- 

 terwards to have made ten different at- 

 tempts to poison him, but she finally 

 abandoned her efforts. 



After this the couple employed their 

 knowledge for the benefit of some of their 

 friends, and they were building up quite 

 a lucrative practice, when their career 

 ended from an unfortunate accident. 

 Sainte Croix, while working one day in 

 his secret laboratory, inhaled some of the 

 fumes, and was found the next day dead 

 upon the floor. The police had their 

 suspicions aroused by the circumstances 

 and started an examination. They soon 

 found a sealed casket, directed to Madame 

 de Bruivilliers, and a note on it calling 

 down horrible imprecations upon any- 

 one who, after his death, should not take 

 it at once to the lady. Naturally this 

 excited curiosity, the box was opened, 

 and in it was found several vials of poison 

 and papers of various sorts directly in- 

 criminating the Marquise. 



They captured his servant, L,achaus- 

 see, who confessed his share in the 

 crimes, and was duly executed. Madame 

 de Bruivilliers, however, fled to England 

 and stayed there quietly for three years. 

 She thought, by that time, that all had 

 blown over, and so ventured to cross the 

 Channel to Liege, where she took refuge 

 in a convent. But the police had kept 

 her in sight, and now made many fruit- 

 less attempts to get hold of her. Finally 



a handsome young detective was sent up 

 there, dressed up as an abbe, and, calling 

 at the convent, made desperate love to 

 her. She fell at once into the trap, went 

 out to walk with him one evening, and 

 was suddenly clapped into a carriage and 

 driven off to Paris. 



The little woman, who behaved 

 throughout with the utmost courage, 

 faced her judges with perfect self-posses- 

 sion and flatly denied all the charges. 

 But she soon found that the proofs were 

 overwhelming, and finally, when brought 

 face to face with the rack, she told them 

 frankly that there was no need of tortur- 

 ing her, and confessed the history of her 

 whole life with the utmost frankness. 

 The details were horrible, implicating, it 

 was believed, many prominent people, 

 and the judges immediately ordered her 

 to be executed the following day. 



Immense crowds gathered to see the 

 execution. Mme. de Sevigne describes 

 in her graphic manner how she stood 

 with her friends to see her taken by. 

 She was scantily dressed, lying on a 

 straw pallet, with a confessor on one side 

 and the executioner on the other. But 

 she did not lose her courage. When she 

 saw the mass of people, including hun- 

 dreds of her former friends, who had 

 gathered to see her fate, she exclaimed 

 contemptuously: " You have come to see 

 a fine spectacle." She did once lose her 

 temper, that was when she saw near her 

 carriage the detective Degrais, who had 

 captured her. She begged her confessor 

 to " make the executioner stand in front 

 of me, I don't want to see that scoundrel, 

 Degrais, who took me." Her confessor 

 reproved her for her temper. She said: 

 " Ah, mon Dieu, I beg your pardon; let 

 me then keep this pleasant sight." The 

 executioner kept her for some minutes 

 on the scaffold, posing her for the benefit 

 of the audience, till the bystanders mur- 

 munned. "It's all well." she said. 



