"You have often told me that you espoused the Prince de Hansfeld with regret, and that your principal motive for bestowing your hand on him was to secure a provision for your aunt. I am correct so far, am I not?"
"Perfectly so!"
"You likewise informed me that, thanks to the extreme liberality of M. de Hansfeld, the greater part of his immense fortune would, at his death, revert to you——"
"Hold! miserable girl! you make me chill with horror! These repeated attempts on his life then——"
Without taking any notice of her mistress's remark, Iris continued,—
"Shortly after your marriage your former dejection of spirits returned with redoubled force. I hesitated no longer; and one evening, at Trieste, unperceived by any person, I put into a cup of milk——"
"Monster! I will hear no more!"
"Nay, godmother, I had taken my precautions too carefully to dread discovery, and even had I not escaped detection, none but myself could have been implicated; and besides, I should have voluntarily declared I was the sole culprit, and that no living soul was privy to my guilt."
"Horrible! and did you not shudder at the enormity of the crime you meditated?—did no whisper of conscience remind you how foul a deed you were about to commit?"
"Godmother, you desired to be released from your marriage-vows."