Cinq Mars -- Volume 2

erroge, et la

RD, Les

attention that no private conversations had taken place. Some irrepressible cries had been uttered, but simultaneously, so tha

ding them; so that a large portion of the throng in the hall of trial, not venturing to change their judgment, though upon the manifest evidence just given them, awai

know what to t

t extraordinary thi

in strang

i' faith, it is not wise

crowd, which merely serves to show that it is at the command of the first

y please, in this manner? What! da

King k

ot contrived! What! shall murder be committed under

ang out in trum

ate, who, standing on a branch, began teari

o an honest man? Which of them will dare to meet his gaze? But what do I say? They all know the truth. They carry it in their guilty breasts; it stings their hearts like a serpent. They tremble in their lair, where doubtless they are devouring their victim; they tremble because they have heard the cries of three

was heard through a h

ped for a mom

? If I mistake not, these instruments of an infernal

nded him, "what shall we do?

nertia of a people is all-powerful; that is its true wisdom, that its stre

re to appear here again,

once more at the tall

ad lost nothing of

gnant parishioners, who were talking together in a low tone, measuring and counting the archers, r

bitterness. Violent desires for slaughter and revenge, a vague desire to strike, took possession of him, despite himself; this is the first impression which evil produces on the soul of a young man. Later, sadness takes

ne, whom we have seen the subject of jest with the young soldier, Grand-Ferre. The child, having nothing to look at after the court had left the hall, had climbed to a small window which admitted a faint light, and which he

er, lend me your

see there?" a

but I want to get down

!" said all the women. "Don't be

n two great boards that squeeze his legs

f the townsmen. "Look again, my li

d again through the window, and

, and are looking at him, and their great robes prevent me from see

h; every one was silent, waiting anxiously to cat

ter the Capuchins have blessed the hammer and nails. Ah, heavens! Sister, how enraged they see

es, looking up at him with a mournful eagerness, and signing him to go o

pieces of wood, which squeeze his legs. Oh, how pale he is! he seems pr

ms of the young Advocat

o had come to

ontinued in full chorus one of the psalms, interrupted by blows of the hammer-an infernal deed beating time to celestial songs. One m

r, "He speaks. The chan

s, mitigate the rigor of your torments, for you will redu

ating archers; the unarmed crowd drove them back, pressed them, almost suffocated them against the walls, and held them fast, then dashed against the doors which led to the t

n him away!" cried a man who h

f their steps, fled from this detestable place and spread rapidly

. The cries of women slipping on the pavement or driven back by the horses of the guards; the shouts of the

regulated for minor infractions and used for interrogating women and children. For more serious crimes the s

upon some unoffending neighbor. The confusion was bewildering, and became still more so, when, hurrying through all the streets toward the Place de St. Pierre, the people found it barricaded on all sides, and filled with mounted guards and archers. Carts, fastened to the posts at each corner, closed each entrance, and sentinels, armed with arquebuses, were stationed close to the carts. In the centre of the

for an instant nothing was heard but the sound of the rain, whic

the church of Ste.-Croix, raised upon twenty stone steps. The pile was in front, and from this height they could see the whole of the square. The centre was entirely c

h a condemnation seemed to him so enormous that its very cruelty began to justify it in his eyes; a secret horror crept into his soul, the same that silenced the people. He almost forgot the interest with which the unhappy Urbain had inspired him, in thinking whether it were not possible that some secret corres

ts-for his limbs, bound with bandages saturated with blood, seemed broken and incapable of supporting him. It was at most two hours since Cinq-Mars had seen him, and yet he could hardly recognize the face he had so closely observed at the trial. All color, all roundness of form had disappeared from it; a livid pallor covered a skin yellow and shining like ivory; the blood seemed to have left his veins; all the life that remained within him shon

urch; the Capuchin Lactantius placed a lighted torch in his right han

k pardon of God for

ice with great difficulty, an

fain to pour out my sins into the bosom of God Himself, for my enemies surround me. I call that God of mercy to witness I never have dealt in magic. I have kn

outh ere he could pronounce the name of the Saviour.

the wood that was to burn him. During this ceremony, the judge-Advocate hastily read the decree, dated the 18th of August, 1639, declaring Urbain Grandier

and, turning to M. de Laubardemont, asked whether, considering the

nds execution within twenty-four hours. Fear not t

and many strangers were under the peristy

le to pronounce the name of the

seemed to hold with precaution and respect; he extended it to the lips of the sufferer, who indeed threw back his hea

latter, "he has thr

the meaning of w

n!" cried t

on moved tow

latform, smoked and made a noise like molten lead when thrown into water. While the public attention was elsewhere engaged, he advanced and touched it lightly with his bare hand, which was immediate

hee with the mark o

these words an

an!" cried the un

ds of men who cried, "Justice! j

Lactantius; "to th

to tie up the victim, hastened to lay him on the wood, and to set fire to it. But the rain still fell in torrents, and each piece of wood had no sooner caught the fla

discovered; two barricades were forced, and despite three volleys of musketry, the archers were gradually driven back toward the centre of the square. In vain they spurred their horses again

et them fall back. See, Heaven will not permit him to die! The fire is out; no

tore up and threw aside the beams; one of them was still burning, and its light showed under a mass of ashes and ensanguined mire a blackened hand, preserve

remains," she

martyr!" exclaimed a c