For answer Dacre came across to me, and placed the small lamp upon the table which stood by my bed.  Lifting up the ill-omened filler, he turned the brass rim so that the light fell full upon it.  Seen in this way the engraving seemed clearer than on the night before.

“We have already agreed that this is the badge of a marquis or of a marquise,” said he.  “We have also settled that the last letter is B.”

“It is undoubtedly so.”

“I now suggest to you that the other letters from left to right are, M, M, a small d, A, a small d, and then the final B.”

“Yes, I am sure that you are right.  I can make out the two small d’s quite plainly.”

“What I have read to you tonight,” said Dacre, “is the official record of the trial of Marie Madeleine d’Aubray, Marquise de Brinvilliers, one of the most famous poisoners and murderers of all time.”

I sat in silence, overwhelmed at the extraordinary nature of the incident, and at the completeness of the proof with which Dacre had exposed its real meaning.  In a vague way I remembered some details of the woman’s career, her unbridled debauchery, the cold-blooded and protracted torture of her sick father, the murder of her brothers for motives of petty gain.  I recollected also that the bravery of her end had done something to atone for the horror of her life, and that all Paris had sympathized with her last moments, and blessed her as a martyr within a few days of the time when they had cursed her as a murderess.  One objection, and one only, occurred to my mind.

“How came her initials and her badge of rank upon the filler?  Surely they did not carry their mediaeval homage to the nobility to the point of decorating instruments of torture with their titles?”

“I was puzzled with the same point,” said Dacre, “but it admits of a simple explanation.  The case excited extraordinary interest at the time, and nothing could be more natural than that La Reynie, the head of the police, should retain this filler as a grim souvenir.  It was not often that a marchioness of France underwent the extraordinary question.  That he should engrave her initials upon it for the information of others was surely a very ordinary proceeding upon his part.”

“And this?” I asked, pointing to the marks upon the leathern neck.

“She was a cruel tigress,” said Dacre, as he turned away.  “I think it is evident that like other tigresses her teeth were both strong and sharp.”

The New Catacomb

“Look here, Burger,” said Kennedy, “I do wish that you would confide in me.”