When she re-entered the audience hall, pale and limping, she wasreceived with a general murmur of pleasure. On the part of the audiencethere was the feeling of impatience gratified which one experiences atthe theatre at the end of the last entr'acte of the comedy, when thecurtain rises and the conclusion is about to begin. On the part of thejudges, it was the hope of getting their suppers sooner.
The little goat also bleated with joy. He tried to run towards hismistress, but they had tied him to the bench.
Night was fully set in. The candles, whose number had not beenincreased, cast so little light, that the walls of the hall could not beseen. The shadows there enveloped all objects in a sort of mist. A fewapathetic faces of judges alone could be dimly discerned. Opposite them,at the extremity of the long hail, they could see a vaguely white pointstanding out against the sombre background. This was the accused.
She had dragged herself to her place. When Charmolue had installedhimself in a magisterial manner in his own, he seated himself, thenrose and said, without exhibiting too much self-complacency at hissuccess,--"The accused has confessed all."
"Bohemian girl," the president continued, "have you avowed allyour deeds of magic, prostitution, and assassination on Phoebus deChateaupers."
Her heart contracted. She was heard to sob amid the darkness.
"Anything you like," she replied feebly, "but kill me quickly!"
"Monsieur, procurator of the king in the ecclesiastical courts," saidthe president, "the chamber is ready to hear you in your charge."
Master Charmolue exhibited an alarming note book, and began to read,with many gestures and the exaggerated accentuation of the pleader, anoration in Latin, wherein all the proofs of the suit were piled upin Ciceronian periphrases, flanked with quotations from Plautus, hisfavorite comic author. We regret that we are not able to offer to ourreaders this remarkable piece. The orator pronounced it with marvellousaction. Before he had finished the exordium, the perspiration wasstarting from his brow, and his eyes from his bead.
All at once, in the middle of a fine period, he interrupted himself, andhis glance, ordinarily so gentle and even stupid, became menacing.
"Gentlemen," he exclaimed (this time in French, for it was not inhis copy book), "Satan is so mixed up in this affair, that here he ispresent at our debates, and making sport of their majesty. Behold!"
So saying, he pointed to the little goat, who, on seeing Charmoluegesticulating, had, in point of fact, thought it appropriate to do thesame, and had seated himself on his haunches, reproducing to the bestof his ability, with his forepaws and his bearded head the patheticpantomine of the king's procurator in the ecclesiastical court. Thiswas, if the reader remembers, one of his prettiest accomplishments. Thisincident, this last proof, produced a great effect. The goat'shoofs were tied, and the king's procurator resumed the thread of hiseloquence.
It was very long, but the peroration was admirable. Here is theconcluding phrase; let the reader add the hoarse voice and thebreathless gestures of Master Charmolue,
"_Ideo, domni, coram stryga demonstrata, crimine patente, intentionecriminis existente, in nornine sanctoe ecclesioe Nostroe-DominceParisiensis quae est in saisina habendi omnimodam altam et bassamjustitiam in illa hac intemerata Civitatis insula, tenore proesentiumdeclaremus nos requirere, primo, aliquamdam pecuniariam indemnitatem;secundo, amendationem honorabilem ante portalium maximumNostroe-Dominoe, ecclesioe cathedralis; tertio, sententiani in virtutecujus ista styrga cum sua capella, seu in trivio vulgariter dicto_ laGreve, _seu in insula exeunte in fluvio Secanoe, juxta pointam juardiniregalis, executatoe sint_!"*
* The substance of this exordium is contained in the president'ssentence.
He put on his cap again and seated himself.
"Eheu!" sighed the broken-hearted Gringoire, "_bassa latinitas_--bastardlatin!"
Another man in a black gown rose near the accused; he was herlawyer.--The judges, who were fasting, began to grumble.
"Advocate, be brief," said the president.
"Monsieur the President," replied the advocate, "since the defendanthas confessed the crime, I have only one word to say to these gentlemen.Here is a text from the Salic law; 'If a witch hath eaten a man, and ifshe be convicted of it, she shall pay a fine of eight thousand deniers,which amount to two hundred sous of gold.' May it please the chamber tocondemn my client to the fine?"
"An abrogated text," said the advocate extraordinary of the king.
"Nego, I deny it," replied the advocate.
"Put it to the vote!" said one of the councillors; "the crime ismanifest, and it is late."
They proceeded to take a vote without leaving the room. The judgessignified their assent without giving their reasons, they were in ahurry. Their capped heads were seen uncovering one after the other, inthe gloom, at the lugubrious question addressed to them by the presidentin a low voice. The poor accused had the appearance of looking at them,but her troubled eye no longer saw.
Then the clerk began to write; then he handed a long parch-ment to thepresident.
Then the unhappy girl heard the people moving, the pikes clashing, and afreezing voice saying to her,--"Bohemian wench, on the day when it shallseem good to our lord the king, at the hour of noon, you will be takenin a tumbrel, in your shift, with bare feet, and a rope about yourneck, before the grand portal of Notre-Dame, and you will there make anapology with a wax torch of the weight of two pounds in your hand, andthence you will be conducted to the Place de Greve, where you will behanged and strangled on the town gibbet; and likewise your goat; andyou will pay to the official three lions of gold, in reparation of thecrimes by you committed and by you confessed, of sorcery and magic,debauchery and murder, upon the person of the Sieur Phoebus deChateaupers. May God have mercy on your soul!"
"Oh! 'tis a dream!" she murmured; and she felt rough hands bearing heraway.
CHAPTER IV. _LASCIATE OGNI SPERANZA_--LEAVE ALL HOPE BEHIND, YE WHOENTER HERE.