Notre Dame de Paris - Bartleby.com
Notre Dame de Paris - Bartleby.com
Notre Dame de Paris - Bartleby.com
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Rejuvenated by passion, he began to pace the room with great stri<strong>de</strong>s. He laughed no more; he was<br />
terrible to look upon as he went to and fro—the fox was be<strong>com</strong>e a hyena. He seemed choking with rage,<br />
his lips moved, but no word came, his fleshless hands were clenched. Sud<strong>de</strong>nly he raised his head, his<br />
sunken eyes blazed full of light, his voice rang like a clarion: “Seize them, Tristan! Cut down the knaves!<br />
Away, Tristan, my friend! Kill! Kill!”<br />
This outburst over, he returned to his seat, and went on in a voice of cold and concentrated rage:<br />
“Hither, Tristan. We have with us in this Bastille fifty lances of the Vi<strong>com</strong>te <strong>de</strong> Gif, which makes three<br />
hundred horses; you will take them. There is also a <strong>com</strong>pany of the archers of our bodyguard, un<strong>de</strong>r<br />
Monsieur <strong>de</strong> Châteaupers; you will take them. You are provost-marshal, and have the men of your<br />
provostry; you will take them. At the Hôtel Saint-Pol you will find forty archers of the new guard of<br />
Monsieur the Dauphin; take them, and with all these you will speed to <strong>Notre</strong> <strong>Dame</strong>. Ah, messieurs, the<br />
<strong>com</strong>mons of <strong>Paris</strong>, do you fly thus in the face of the crown of France, of the sanctity of <strong>Notre</strong> <strong>Dame</strong>, and<br />
the peace of this <strong>com</strong>monwealth! Exterminate, Tristan! exterminate! and let not one escape for<br />
Montfaucon!”<br />
Tristan bowed. “Very good, Sire! And what am I to do with the witch?” he ad<strong>de</strong>d after a moment’s<br />
pause.<br />
This question gave the King food for reflection. “Ah, to be sure,” said he, “the witch? M.<br />
d’Estouteville, what did the people want to do with her?”<br />
“Sire,” answered the Provost of <strong>Paris</strong>, “I imagine, that as the people were <strong>com</strong>e to drag her out of<br />
sanctuary in <strong>Notre</strong> <strong>Dame</strong>, it is her impunity that offends them, and that they <strong>de</strong>sire to hang her.”<br />
The King appeared to reflect profoundly; then, addressing himself to Tristan l’Hermite:<br />
“Very well, Compère; exterminate the people and hang the witch.”<br />
“In other words,” whispered Rym to Coppenole, “punish the people for wanting to do a thing, and then<br />
do it yourself!”<br />
“Very good, Sire,” returned Tristan. “And if the witch is still insi<strong>de</strong> the Cathedral, are we to disregard<br />
the sanctuary and take her away?”<br />
“Pasque-Dieu! the sanctuary,” said the King, scratching his ear; “and yet the woman must be<br />
hanged.”<br />
Then, as if an i<strong>de</strong>a had sud<strong>de</strong>nly occurred to him, he fell on his knees before his chair, took off his hat,<br />
laid it on the seat, and gazing <strong>de</strong>voutly at one of the little lead images with which it was encircled:<br />
“Oh!” he cried, clasping his hands, “Our Lady of <strong>Paris</strong>, my gracious patroness, give me pardon, I will<br />
do it only this once. This criminal must be punished. I do assure you, Madame the Virgin, my good<br />
mistress, that it is a sorceress, unworthy of your kind protection. You know, Madame, that many very<br />
<strong>de</strong>vout princes have trespassed on the privileges of the Church for the glory of God and the necessity of<br />
the state. Saint-Hugh, Bishop of England, permitted King Edward to seize a magician in his church. My<br />
master, Saint-Louis of France, transgressed for the like purpose in the Church of Saint-Paul, and<br />
Monsieur Alphonse, son of the King of Jerusalem, in the Church of the Holy Sephulchre itself. Pardon<br />
me, then, for this once, Our Lady of <strong>Paris</strong>! I will never again transgress in this manner, and I will give<br />
you a fair statue of silver, like that I gave last year to Our Lady of Ecouys. So be it!”