The first result of her good intentions is a declaration to the Marchioness by Sainte-Croix that, though there had been some love-passages between him and the girl, they were "madness, infatuation--call it what name you will; but you are the only one I ever loved." Thus the ruffian speaks in the presence of the woman he had betrayed; but her love, though crushed, still urges her to become the man's good angel, and, seizing his arm, she cries:
"'Hear me, Gaudin. By the recollection of what we once were to each other--although you scorn me now, and the shadowy remembrance of old times--before these terrible circumstances, whatever they may be, had thus turned your heart from me and from your God, there is still time to make amends for all that has occurred. I do not speak for myself, for all those feelings have passed, but for you alone. Repent and be happy, for happy now you are not!'"
"Gaudin made no reply, but his bosom heaved rapidly, betraying his emotion.
"'This is idle talk,' said the Marchioness.... 'Will you not come with me, Gaudin?'
"'Marie!' cried Gaudin faintly, 'take me where you list. In life or after it, on earth or in hell, I am yours--yours only!'
"A flush of triumph passed over her face as she led Sainte-Croix from the grotto," etc.
By the death of her father the Marchioness hoped, not only to have freed herself and her lover from an ever-recurring obstacle to their intercourse, but also to have inherited a much-needed sum of money--no less than "one hundred and fifty thousand livres were to have been the legacy to his daughter, Madame de Brinvilliers--and, what was more, her absolute freedom to act as she pleased. The money had passed to her brothers, in trust for her, and she was left entirely under their surveillance.
"'This must be altered,' said the Chevalier Sainte-Croix in an interview with the _alter ego_ of an Italian vendor of poisons named Exili.'"
This man undertakes the "alteration," or, in other words, the murder, of the two brothers for a "consideration" in the form of "one-fifth of whatever may fall to the Marchioness thereupon.
"'Of course, there is a barrier between the brothers of Madame de Brinvilliers and myself,' said Sainte-Croix to his accomplice, 'that must for ever prevent our meeting. I will provide the means, and you their application.'"