some medicine in the glass." This incident was presently forgotten. Early in April, 1670, the lieutenant-civil went to Beauce to pass the Easter holidays. The councillor accompanied his brother, tak ing with him his valet, La Chaussee. At a great dinner which was given at the lieutenant-civil's house, a certain dish of pastry was served. All those who partook of it found themselves seriously ill the next day. Those who by good chance did not touch it, escaped unharmed. On the 1 2th of April the lieutenant-civil returned to Paris, still suffering greatly from the effects of his sudden indisposition. Upon arriving at the city, he soon grew worse, and on the 17th of June, 1670, he died. As the affair of the pastry had aroused some suspicions of- a crime or an accident, an autopsy was made. The physicians and sur geons called to take part in this operation found nothing extraordinary. They attrib uted the death to natural causes. But presently the councillor, D'Aubray, was seized with an illness the symptoms of which were similar to those manifested by his brother. He languished for three months, and in November he also died. The physicians and surgeons who had made the autopsy on the body of the lieu tenant-civil, were again summoned to exam ine the body of the councillor. As in the first case, the result of an autopsy was a declara tion that there was nothing to indicate that death had not resulted from natural causes. The instinct of self-preservation, surer and more reliable than science, gave to the lieu tenant-civil 's widow the certainty of impend ing danger. Her father-in-law, her hus band, her brother-in-law, in rapid succession carried off by a mysterious malady, warned her to be on her guard. She said to herself that her death would profit those who had profited by these three deaths. She was, henceforth, the sole obstacle to the concen tration of the entire D'Aubray property in the hands of the only remaining heir, Ma dame de Brinvilliers. Consequently, she sur
rounded her life with every precaution, and kept a careful watch upon her sister-in-law. About the time of her brothers' deaths, the Marchioness attempted the life of her only sister, but for some unknown reason on this occasion she failed. Such was the record of the Marchioness de Brinvilliers at the time of Sainte-Croix's death. Upon learning of his decease, she made the most strenuous efforts to get pos session of the box, but in vain, and soon afterward she quitted France for England. La Chauss6e was arrested, and various poisons were found upon his person. Sub jected to the question ordinary and extra ordinary, he bore the torture courageously, and pain could not tear from him a confes sion. He persisted in .his denials of crime, and declared that he was innocent. But once released from the instrument of torture, he made a confession. He stated that he had poisoned the two brothers D'Aubray; SainteCroix had given him the poison, and he had been paid one hundred pistoles for his crim inal services. Sainte-Croix had said to him, "Madame de Brinvilliers knows nothing of this;" but La Chaussee had not been duped. In fact, the day after the death of the younger brother, Sainte-Croix had given him a letter for the Marchioness, and after reading it, she had urged him to fly. La Chaussee was condemned to be broken alive upon the wheel; but before his death he retracted so much of his previous confession as impli cated the Marchioness, and declared that she was innocent of the murder. At the instance of the French Ambassa dor, Madame de Brinvilliers was forced to leave England. She fled first to Brussels, and finally sought an asylum at Liege. There she entered a convent. At first she appeared to be sincerely devout; but the calm and peaceful life accorded little with her worldly aspirations, and she soon became weary of her surroundings. Within the convent walls, however, she was safe, and under the circum stances she must take every precaution. But the avenger of blood was upon her track.
