As she was uttering the words, "Lord, receive the soul that has been
redeemed by Thy goodness," she fell upon her face to the ground.
Then the miscreant dealt her several thrusts, and when she had lost both
power of speech and strength of body, and was no longer able to make any
defence, he ravished her.(4)
4 Brantome, in his account of Mary Queen of Scots, quotes
this story. After mentioning that the headsman remained
alone with the Queen's decapitated corpse, he adds: "He then
took off her shoes and handled her as he pleased. It is
suspected that he treated her in the same way as that
miserable muleteer, in the Hundred Stories of the Queen of
Navarre, treated the poor woman he killed. Stranger
temptations than this come to men. After he (the
executioner) had done as he chose, the (Queen's) body was
carried into a room adjoining that of her servants."
Lalanne's _OEuvres de Brantome_, vol. vii. p. 438.--M.
Having thus satisfied his wicked lust, he fled in haste, and in spite of
all pursuit was never seen again.
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