Brinvilliers now disavowed all knowledge of the box; but it was too late. For a little while her spirits deserted her, and she made an ineffectual attempt at suicide. She, however, soon rallied them, and preserved her courage to the last. Among her papers was found a written confession of the numerous crimes which she had committed. To extort an oral confession, it was resolved to put her to the ordinary question, which consisted in forcing down the throat of the culprit an immense quantity of water. When she saw three buckets in the torture room, she coolly observed, “This must be for the purpose of drowning me, for they can never expect to make a woman of my size drink it all.” She was saved from the trial, by making a full avowal of her misdeeds. Her sentence she heard with an unaltered countenance. In the last twenty-four hours of her existence she is said to have manifested sincere penitence. She was beheaded, and her remains were burned, on the 16th of July, 1676. It will perhaps scarcely be believed that, on the morrow, the besotted populace collected her ashes; assigning as their reason for so doing, that she was a saint! With Brinvilliers was implicated Penautier, who held the lucrative offices of treasurer-general of the clergy, and of the states of Languedoc. He was known to be her intimate friend, and was believed, apparently with reason, to be one of her favoured lovers. It is asserted, that in the box which was left by St. Croix, there was a packet of poison, addressed to Penautier. That the receiver-general had the reputation of making use of such packets is certain, and was a subject of public jest. Cardinal de Bonzi, archbishop of Narbonne, who was his strenuous protector, used to say laughingly, “None of those who have pensions on my benefices are long-lived, for my star is fatal to them all.” The caustic Abbé Fouquet one day saw the prelate and Penautier in a carriage together, and he told everybody that he had just met Cardinal de Bonzi and his star. Penautier was imprisoned, and appears to have been in imminent danger; from which he is said to have been extricated only by the most powerful influence, and the sacrifice of half his riches.