‘I cannot pray,’ she answered wildly; ‘it is to that man I owe all this misery. He hunted me to Liége, and by a mean deception gave me up into the hands of the officers. It is Desgrais!’
‘Turn your eyes from him, madame,’ said Pirot; ‘and do not at such a moment give way to this feeling. He acted under authority; and is a trustworthy officer.’
‘He trapped me like a reptile,’ replied Marie with bitterness; ‘and my dying curses——’
‘Madame! madame!’ cried Pirot, as Marie raised herself in the tumbrel and looked towards the exempt, ‘do not peril your soul by this ill-timed passion. As you value a chance of salvation, listen to me.’
He drew her towards him, and earnestly commenced a prayer, as he endeavoured to turn her attention from the exempt. But she was no longer mistress of her feelings. The sight of Desgrais appeared to have lighted up a fire in her mind; and she continued gazing at him, though without speaking another word, as if impotent rage had deprived her of the power of utterance.
But there was soon a diversion to the feelings of Marie and her companion, as well as to the uproar of the crowd. The escort which Desgrais was conducting had arrived at the side of the tumbrel; and, what with the pressure of the multitude, and the narrow thoroughfare, the vehicle containing the Marchioness stopped to allow the others to pass, who were, as Pirot had observed, conducting a prisoner to the Palais de Justice. Marie had kept her eyes riveted upon the exempt since she first caught sight of him; but suddenly a voice called her by her name in an accent of thrilling familiarity. She looked hurriedly round, and perceived Exili at the side of the tumbrel, surrounded by a party of the Guet Royal.
‘Marchioness of Brinvilliers!’ he cried, ‘we have met again; and the rencontre is one of triumph for me. Murderess of Gaudin de Sainte-Croix—of my son—soul and body—you shall quit this world with my anathema ringing in your ears. Soyez maudite!’
‘Forward!’ cried Desgrais, as he rode by the side of Exili, between him and the cart, touching the Marchioness as he passed, who shrunk from him shuddering with disgust.
The crowd had thronged round the escort so densely that now neither party could move. The delay to Marie was fearful, and the terror of the moment was wrought to its extreme pitch by the curses and horrible salutations of the people, some of whom were close to the tumbrel.
‘Ho! ho! the capital meeting!’ cried a fellow on the bridge, applauding with his hands for joy. ‘Two poisoners at a time; Madame de Brinvilliers and the Physician Exili. What a pity they are not going to keep company out of the world.’