pitcher of water which he had thrown at her from the window, and since,
when he saw her escaping, he had run to warn her assassins and to set
them on her track. She recovered herself quickly, however, and seeing
that the priest, without any sign of remorse, was drawing near to her
bedside, she would not cause so great a scandal as would have been caused
by denouncing him at such a moment. Nevertheless, bending towards him,
she said, "Father, I hope that, remembering what has passed, and in order
to dispel fears that--I may justifiably entertain, you will make no
difficulty of partaking with me of the consecrated wafer; for I have
sometimes heard it said that the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, while
remaining a token of salvation, has been known to be made a principle of
death."

The priest inclined his head as a sign of assent.

So the marquise communicated thus, taking a sacrament that she shared
with one of her murderers, as an evidence that she forgave this one like
the others and that she prayed God to forgive them as she herself did.

The following days passed without any apparent increase in her illness,
the fever by which she was consumed rather enhancing her beauties, and
imparting to her voice and gestures a vivacity which they had never had
before. Thus everybody had begun to recover hope, except herself, who,
feeling better than anyone else what was her true condition, never for a
moment allowed herself any illusion, and keeping her son, who was seven
years old, constantly beside her bed, bade him again and again look well
at her, so that, young as he was, he might remember her all his life and
never forget her in his prayers. The poor child would burst into tears
and promise not only to remember her but also to avenge her when he was a
man. At these words the marquise gently reproved him, telling him that