The Executioner's Knife Part 30

ANOTHER JUDGE--"Why should G.o.d have chosen a girl of your station rather than some other person to vanquish them?"

JOAN DARC--"Because it pleased the Lord to have the English routed by a poor girl like myself."

THE SAME JUDGE--"How much money did your King pay you to serve him?"

JOAN DARC (proudly)--"I never asked aught of the King but good arms, good horses, and the payment of my soldiers."

BISHOP CAUCHON--"When your King put you to the work of war, you ordered a standard to be made for you. What was its material?"

JOAN DARC--"It was of white satin." (She drops her head sadly at the recollection of the past glories of her banner, that was so terrible a device to the English, whose prisoner she now is. She smothers a sob.)

BISHOP CAUCHON--"What figures were painted on it?"

JOAN DARC--"Two angels holding a lily stalk. Two symbols; G.o.d and the King."

These words are likewise noted down with great zest by the members of the tribunal.

A JUDGE--"Was your standard frequently renewed?"

JOAN DARC--"It was renewed as often as its staff was broken in battle.

That happened frequently."

ANOTHER JUDGE--"Did not some of those who followed you have standards made similar to yours?"

JOAN DARC--"Some did; others did not."

THE SAME JUDGE--"Were those who bore a standard similar to yours lucky in war? Did they rout the English?"

JOAN DARC--"Yes, if they were brave, they then triumphed over the English."

ANOTHER JUDGE--"Did your people follow you to battle because they considered you inspired?"

JOAN DARC--"I said to them: 'Let us fall bravely upon the Englis.h.!.+' I was the first to fall to--they followed me."

THE JUDGE--"In short, your people took you to be inspired of G.o.d?"

JOAN DARC--"Whether they believed me to be inspired or not, they trusted in my courage."

BISHOP CAUCHON--"Did you not, when your King was consecrated at Rheims, proudly wave your banner over the prince's head?"

JOAN DARC--"No; but alone of all the captains, I accompanied the King into the cathedral with my standard in my hand."

A JUDGE (angrily)--"Accordingly, while the other captains did not bring their standards to the solemnity, you brought yours!"

JOAN DARC--"It had been at the pain--it was ent.i.tled to be at the honor."

This sublime answer, of such legitimate and touching pride and bearing the stamp of antique simplicity, strikes the a.s.sembled ecclesiastical executioners with admiration. They pause despite their bitter malice towards their victim. These were heroic and scathing words. They told of the price of perils and above all of disenchantment that Joan had paid for her triumph. Aye, she and her glorious standard had been cruelly in pain, poor martyr that she was. Her virginal body was broken by the rude trials of war. She had shed her generous blood on the fields of battle. She had struggled with admirable stubbornness, with mortal anxieties born of the most sacred patriotism, against the treasonable plots of the captains who finally brought on her downfall. She had struggled against the sloth of Charles VII, the poltroon whom with so much pain she dragged from victory to victory as far as Rheims, where she had him consecrated King. Her only recompense was to see her standard "at the honor" of that solemn consecration, from which she expected the salvation of Gaul. Her standard had been at the pain--it was ent.i.tled to be at the honor. The astonishment of the ecclesiastics at these sublime words is profound. Deep silence ensues. Bishop Cauchon is the first to break it. Addressing himself to the accused in measured words, an ordinary symptom with him of some lurking perfidy, he asks:

BISHOP CAUCHON--"Joan, when you entered a town, did not the inhabitants kiss your hands, your feet, your clothes?"

JOAN DARC--"Many wished to; and when poor people, women and children, came to me, I feared to grieve them if I repelled them."

This answer is to be used against her; several of the judges note it down, while a sinister smile plays around the lips of Bishop Cauchon; he proceeds:

BISHOP CAUCHON--"Did you ever hold a child at the baptismal font?"

JOAN DARC--"Yes; I held a child at the holy font of Soissons, and two others at St. Denis. These are the only ones to whom I have been G.o.d-mother."

BISHOP CAUCHON--"What names did you give them?"

JOAN DARC--"To the boy the name of Charles, in honor of the King of France; to the girls the name of Joan, because the mothers so wished it."

These words, that charmingly depict the enthusiasm which the martial maid inspired among the people, and the generosity that she showed towards Charles, are to be a further charge against her. Several judges note them down.

BISHOP CAUCHON--"A mother at Lagny asked you to visit her dying child, did she not?"

JOAN DARC--"Yes, but the child had been brought to the Church of Notre-Dame. Young girls of the town were on their knees at the door and prayed for the child. I knelt down among them, and I also prayed to G.o.d for His blessing upon the child."

CANON LOYSELEUR (from under his completely lowered hood and disguising his voice)--"Which of the two Popes is the real Pope?"

JOAN DARC (stupefied)--"Are there, then, two Popes, sir? I did not know that."

BISHOP CAUCHON--"You claim to be inspired by G.o.d. He must have instructed you as to which of the two Popes you should render obedience to."

JOAN DARC--"I know nothing about that. It is for the Pope to know whether he obeys G.o.d, and for me to obey him who submits to G.o.d."

BISHOP CAUCHON (to Canon Loyseleur with a significant accent)--"My very dear brother, we shall reserve for another session the grave question that you have broached touching the Church triumphant and the Church militant. Let us now proceed with other matters. (Turning to Joan with an inflection of his voice that announces the gravity of the question.) When you left Vaucouleurs you put on male attire. Was that done at the request of Robert of Baudricourt, or of your own free will? Answer categorically."

JOAN DARC--"Of my own free will."

A JUDGE--"Did your voices order you to give up the garb of your s.e.x?"

JOAN DARC--"Whatever good I have done I did by the advice of my voices.

Whenever I understood them well, my saints and the archangel have guided me well."

ANOTHER JUDGE--"So, then, you do not think you are committing a sin in wearing the man's clothes that you are covered with?"

JOAN DARC (with a sigh of regret)--"Oh, for the happiness of France and the misfortune of England, why am I not free in man's clothes with my horse and my armor! I would still vanquish our enemies."

ANOTHER JUDGE--"Would you like to hear ma.s.s?"

JOAN DARC (thrilling with hope)--"Oh, with all my heart!"

THE SAME JUDGE--"You can not hear it in those clothes that are not of your s.e.x."

JOAN DARC (reflects a moment; she recalls the obscene language of her jailers and fears to be outraged by them; in man's clothes she feels greater protection than in the habits of her s.e.x; she answers)--"Do you promise me that if I resume my woman's clothes I shall be allowed to attend ma.s.s?"

THE SAME JUDGE--"Yes, Joan, I promise you that."