The moment had come for action. M. d'Aubray , tired with business, was to spend a holiday at his castle called Offemont . The marquise offered to go with him. M. d'Aubray , who supposed her relations with Sainte-Croix to be quite broken off, joyfully accepted. Offemont was exactly the place for a crime of this nature. In the middle of the forest of Aigue , three or four miles from Compiegne, it would be impossible to get efficient help before the rapid action of the poison had made it useless.
M. d'Aubray started with his daughter and one servant only. Never had the marquise been so devoted to her father, so especially attentive, as she was during this journey. And M. d'Aubray , like Christ--who though He had no children had a father's heart--loved his repentant daughter more than if she
