assassin of Louis XIV., that hardly accounts for the intense secrecy
with which his valet, Eustache Dauger, was always surrounded. Did
Marsilly know of the Secret Treaty, and was it from him that
Arlington got his first inkling of the royal plot? If so, Marsilly
would probably have exposed the mystery in Protestant interests. We
are entirely baffled.

In any case, Francis Vernon, writing from Paris to Williamson (?)
(June 19/29 1669), gave a terrible account of Marsilly's death.
(For the letter, see Note V.) With a broken piece of glass (as we
learn from another source), Marsilly, in prison, wounded himself in
a ghastly manner, probably hoping to die by loss of blood. They
seared him with a red-hot iron, and hurried on his execution. He
was broken on the wheel, and was two hours in dying (June 22).
Contrary to usage, a Protestant preacher was brought to attend him
on the scaffold. He came most reluctantly, expecting insult, but
not a taunt was uttered by the fanatic populace. 'He came up the
scaffold, great silence all about.' Marsilly lay naked, stretched
on a St. Andrew's cross. He had seemed half dead, his head hanging
limp, 'like a drooping calf.' To greet the minister of his own
faith, he raised himself, to the surprise of all, and spoke out loud
and clear. He utterly denied all share in a scheme to murder Louis.
The rest may be read in the original letter (Note V.).

So perished Roux de Marsilly; the history of the master throws no
light on the secret of the servant. That secret, for many years,
caused the keenest anxiety to Louis XIV. and Louvois. Saint-Mars
himself must not pry into it. Yet what could Dauger know? That
there had been a conspiracy against the King's life? But that was
the public talk of Paris. If Dauger had guilty knowledge, his life