Part 104 (2/2)
”Nothing more will I tell unto you and no man can devise anything so rich as is this sign. Nevertheless, the sign that you need is that G.o.d should deliver me out of your hands and no surer sign can he send you....”
”When the sign came to your King what reverence did you make to it?”
”I thanked Our Lord for having delivered me from the troubles caused me by the clerks of our party, who were arguing against me. And I knelt down several times. An angel from G.o.d and from none other gave the sign to my King. And many times did I give thanks to Our Lord. The clerks ceased to attack me when they had seen the said sign.”[2339]
[Footnote 2339: On the contrary it was then that they began to argue against her or that they began to argue most effectively. She seems to forget that the interview at Chinon preceded the examination at Poitiers. It is interesting to notice that Brother Pasquerel, who was informed of these matters by her, makes the same error in his evidence.]
”Did the churchmen of your party behold the sign?”
”When my King and such as were with him had seen the sign and also the angel who gave it, I asked my King whether he were pleased, and he replied that he was. Then I departed and went into a little chapel near by. I have since heard that after my departure more than three hundred persons saw the sign. For love of me and in order that I should be questioned no further, G.o.d was pleased to permit this sign to be seen by all those of my party who did see it.”
”Did your King and you make any reverence to the angel when he brought the sign?”
”Yes, for my part, I did. I knelt and took off my hood.”[2340]
[Footnote 2340: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 120, 122.]
CHAPTER XII
THE TRIAL FOR LAPSE (_continued_)
On Monday, the 12th of March, Brother Jean Lemaistre received from Brother Jean Graverent, Inquisitor of France, an order to proceed against and to p.r.o.nounce the final sentence on a certain woman, named Jeanne, commonly called the Maid.[2341] On that same day, in the morning, Maitre Jean de la Fontaine, in presence of the Bishop, for the second time examined Jeanne in her prison.[2342]
[Footnote 2341: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 122-124.]
[Footnote 2342: _Ibid._, p. 125.]
He first returned to the sign. ”Did not the angel who brought the sign speak?”
”Yes, he told my King that he must set me to work in order that the country might soon be relieved.”
”Was the angel, who brought the sign, the angel who first appeared unto you or another?”
”It was always the same and never did he fail me.”
”But inasmuch as you have been taken hath not the angel failed you with regard to the good things of this life?”
”Since it is Our Lord's good pleasure, I believe it was best for me to be taken.”
”In the good things of grace hath not your angel failed you?”
”How can he have failed me when he comforteth me every day?”[2343]
[Footnote 2343: _Trial_, vol. i, p. 126.]
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