Angelique - Part 4. The Doomed Man of Notre Dame Chapter 8 - Read online

THE NOISE SUBSIDED and the court-room made an effort to behave in order to bring about the return of the judges and to ensure, with calm restored, the continuation of the spectacle. All rose when they heard the Swiss guards’ halberds thumping on the stone flags, as they preceded the return of the court.
Amidst a religious silence, Massenau resumed his scat.
“Gentlemen, the incident is closed. The documents which I judged to be suspect are enclosed with the file which each commissioner can study at leisure. I marked them with a red cross, and every juryman can form his own idea of my judgment.”
“Those documents mainly concern acts that challenge the Holy Scriptures,” declared Bouric, who did not hide his satisfaction. “They deal in particular with the manufacture, by alchemical processes, of pygmies and other creatures of diabolical essence.”
The crowd wriggled with restrained mirth.
“Will we see any as exhibits?” a voice shouted.
The interrupter was immediately expelled by the guards, and the hear¬ing continued. Desgrcz then rose:
“Speaking as counsel for the defence, I consent to all the exhibits being produced!” he said.
The President resumed the examination.
“Now, to finish with this matter of the poisons which you admit you have manufactured, how is it, if you had no intention of using them against other people, that you publicly boasted of absorbing some daily ‘in order to avoid any threat of poison’?”
“That is perfectly correct, and what I said then still holds good today: I am boasting that I cannot be poisoned by either vitriol or arsenic, because I have taken such quantities of them that I run no risk of even a slight sickness were someone to try to dispatch me to the next,world by this means.”
‘‘And you still maintain today this claim to immunity against poisons?”
“If that were all that is needed to satisfy the King's court, I am perfectly willing, as a faithful subject, to swallow one of these drugs in your presence.”
“But then, you yourself admit that you have some magic safeguard against all poisons?”
“There's no magic about it, it’s the very basis of the science of anti¬dotes. What is, however, a belief in magic and witchcraft is the use of toadstone and other harmless nonsense, which I believe, gentlemen, almost all of you in this room indulge in, fondly imagining that it protects you against poisons.”
“Accused, it is very wrong of you to taunt and mock respectable customs. However, in the interests of justice, which requires that every¬thing should come to light, I shall not linger over these details. All I shall keep in mind, if you agree, is that you admit to being, in fact, an expert on poisons.”
“I am no more an expert on poisons than on anything else. Besides, I am only protected against certain current poisons, such as the ones already mentioned: arsenic and vitriol. But what does this infinitesimal know¬ledge amount to compared with those thousands of vegetable and animal poisons, exotic Florentine or Chinese poisons, which none of the most illustrious surgeons of the kingdom would know how to combat, or even detect?”
“And you have knowledge of some of those poisons?”
“I have arrows which the Indians in America use for hunting the bison. And also arrow-heads, used by the pygmies of Africa, a wound from which is enough to kill an animal as gigantic as the elephant.”
“In fact, you more than admit the charge of being an expert on poisons?”
“Not at all, Monsieur le President, but I am explaining this to you in order to prove that, if I’d ever intended to get rid of some poor wretches who'd looked at me askance, I wouldn't have troubled to manufacture such common and easily recognised products as arsenic and vitriol.”
“Why, then, did you manufacture them?”
“For scientific purposes in the course of chemical experiments on metal ore which sometimes entail the formation of these products.”
“Let us not stray from the point. It is enough that you yourself agreed that you are extremely versed in matters of poison and alchemy. So, according to what you said, you'd be in a position to kill someone without anybody being able to realise it or find you out. How do we know that you have not done so already?”
“It would have to be proved !”
“You are also held accountable for two suspect deaths, though, I hasten to add, only incidentally: the first is the death of the nephew of Mon¬seigneur de Frantenac, Archbishop of Toulouse.”
“Does a duel after provocation and in the presence of witnesses nowa¬days become an act of witchcraft?”
“Monsieur de Peyrac, I urge you not to persist in your ironical attitude towards a court which is only seeking to shed light on all the facts. As for the second death laid at your hands, it is alleged to have resulted cither from your invisible poisons or from your magic spells. For on the exhumed body of one of your former mistresses this medallion, re¬presenting a half-length portrait of yourself, was found before witnesses. Do you recognise it?”
Angelique could see that President Masscnau was handing a small object to a Swiss guard, which the latter held out to the Comte de Peyrac, who was still leaning on his two sticks before the stool intended for him.
“I do indeed recognise the miniature which the poor, overwrought girl had painted of me.”
“This poor, overwrought girl, as you say, was also one of your count¬less mistresses, Mademoiselle de...”
Joffrey de Peyrac raised his hand in a peremptory gesture.
“For pity’s sake, do not publicly profane her name, Monsieur. The unfortunate woman is dead!”
“She died from a slow decline which we are beginning to suspect you of having caused and fostered by black magic.”
“That is untrue, Monsieur le President.”
“Why, then, was your medallion found in the mouth of the deceased, as if pierced by a pin at the heart?”
“I have no idea. But from what you say I should rather guess that it was she who, being very superstitious, had sought to cast a spell on me in this manner. So here, instead of a spellbinder, I become spellbound, for a change! That is really very funny, Monsieur le President.”
And suddenly the long spectre shaking on his sticks laughed heartily.
The court-room, at first nonplussed, relaxed and there were outbursts of laughter. But Massenau never lost his frown.
“Don’t you know, accused, that the fact of finding a medallion in the mouth of a corpse is a definite sign of spellbinding?”
“From what I can gather, I am much less conversant with these super-stitions than you, Monsieur le President.”
The magistrate overlooked the insinuation.
“Swear, then, that you have never practised them.”
“I swear on my wife, my child and the King that I never engaged in this kind of tomfoolery, at least as it is understood in this kingdom.”
“Explain what you mean by the restriction you have applied to your oath”
“I mean that, after travelling a great deal, I saw for myself, in China and in India, strange phenomena which prove that magic and witchcraft really do exist, but have nothing to do with the charlatanism generally practised under this name in European countries.”
“In fact, you admit that you believe in them?”
“In genuine witchcraft, yes . . . And that, incidentally, comprises a good many natural phenomena which future centuries will no doubt explain. But when it comes to following blissfully the fair-ground per¬formers or the so-called learned alchemists . . .”
“Ah, so you have led up to alchemy yourself! According to you, there is, I expect, just as for witchcraft, a true and a false alchemy?”
“Yes, indeed. Certain Arabs and Spaniards are beginning to call true alchemy by a separate name, chemistry, which is an experimental science in which all exchanges of substances can be reproduced and are, therefore, independent of the operator, provided, of course, that the latter has learned his craft. But a convinced alchemist, on the other hand, is worse than a sorcerer!”
“I am happy to hear you say so, for you thus make our task easier. But what can be worse than a sorcerer, according to you?”
. . a fool and a fanatic, Monsieur.”
For the first time during this solemn hearing, President Massenau seemed to be losing his self-control.
“Accused, I entreat you to show the deference which is, moreover, in your own interest. It is quite enough that in your oath a moment ago you had the insolence to invoke His Majesty after the names of your wife and your child. If you persist in displaying such arrogance, the court may refuse to listen to you. . . .”
Angelique saw Desgrez leap towards her husband as if trying to say something to him, but the guards restrained him.
“My remarks, Monsieur le President, were by no means aimed at you or any other of these gentlemen,” the Comte de Peyrac went on after the hubbub had subsided a little. “As a scientist, I was attacking the practitioners of that baneful science which is called alchemy, and I do not believe that any one among you, who are burdened with such serious occupations, is secredy engaged in it.”
This little speech pleased the magistrates, who nodded gravely.
The examination was resumed in a more serene atmosphere. Massenau,
who had foraged in a mountain of papers, managed to extract another sheet from it.
“You are accused of having used pieces of skeleton in your mysterious practices which, to clear yourself, you call by the new word of chemistry. How do you explain so un-Christian a practice?”
“Monsieur le President, it is important not to confuse occult practice with chemical practice. I use animal bones merely to make ashes, for bone-ash has special properties for absorbing the dross of molten lead while leaving the gold and silver content free.”
“And do human bones possess the same property?” Massenau asked insidiously.
“Probably, Monsieur le President, but I confess that animal bones give me full satisfaction and I content myself with them.”
“In order to suit your purposes, must those animals be burned alive?” “Why, no, Monsieur le President. Do you cook your chickens alive?” The magistrate’s face contracted, but he controlled himself and re¬marked that it was surprising, to say the least, that in this kingdom bone- ash was being used by only one person, and for purposes which a “sensible man” could only consider extravagant, not to say sacrilegious. And as Peyrac scornfully shrugged his shoulders, Massenau added that a charge of sacrilege and impiety had been brought forward and was not based on the use of animal bones alone, but that it would be examined at its proper time and place.
He continued:
“Was not the real purpose of using bone-ash the occult one of re¬generating base matter such as lead in order to bring it back to life by transforming it into precious metal, such as gold or silver?”
“This view is rather closely related to the specious dialectics of the alchemists, who claim to operate by obscure symbols, when actually one cannot create matter.”
“Accused, you admit, though, the fact of having manufactured gold and silver otherwise than by removing them from river-sand?”
“1 never manufactured gold nor silver. I only extracted them.” “Nevertheless, people who know something about it say that those rocks from which you claim you extracted those metals cannot yield a trace of either gold or silver, however much you may grind the rock, even after washing.”
“That is true. But molten lead attracts and mingles with noble metals that are contained therein, but which are invisible.”
“So you claim you can produce gold and silver from any rock?”
“Not at all. Most rocks don’t contain any, or only very little. Besides,
despite difficult and protracted trials, it is difficult to recognise these rocks, which are very rare in France.”
“If it is so difficult to find out, how is it, then, that you are the only man in the kingdom who can do it?”
The Comte replied, exasperated:
“I might say that it is a talent, Monsieur le President, or rather a science and an arduous profession. I might also take the liberty to ask you, in turn, why Lulli is at the moment the only man in France to write operas, and why you do not write some, too, since anyone can study music.”
The President looked annoyed, but did not answer. The juryman with the crafty face raised his hand.
“You may speak, Councillor Bourie.”
“I would like to ask the accused this, Monsieur le President: if it is true that Monsieur de Peyrac discovered a secret process concerning gold and silver, for what reason did this high nobleman, who protests his loyalty to the King, not think it fit to communicate his secret to the sovereign master of this country, I mean His Majesty the King? Not only was this his duty, but also a means of relieving the people, and even the gentry, of so many crushing though indispensable burdens which the taxes represent, and which even the tax-exempted legal profession pays, at least in the form of divers charges.”
An approving murmur ran through the audience. Angelique felt the hatred of the public surge against the man, broken by torture, who was beginning to sway with fatigue on his sticks.
For the first dine, Peyrac turned his eyes towards the audience. But it seemed to the young woman that his glance was distant and that he did not see anyone. ‘Doesn’t he feel that I am here and suffering with'him?’ she thought. • .
The Cbmte seemed to hesitate. He said slowly:
“I have sworn to speak the whole truth. The truth is that, in this king¬dom, personal enterprise is not only not encouraged, but is exploited by a horde of courtiers whose only concern is their own interests, their am¬bitions or else their quarrels. Under these circumstances, the best thing for a man who really wants to create something is to hide himself and protect his work by silence. For ‘you don’t cast pearls before swine’.”
“What you are saying is very grave. You are doing the King and . . . yourself a great disservice,” Massenau said mildly.
Bourie jumped up.
“Monsieur le President, as a juryman I protest against the too indulgent fashion in which you seem to receive what should, to my mind, be recorded as proof of the crime of lese-majestl.”
“Monsieur, if you continue, I should be obliged if you would request that I be relieved of the presidency of this court, a request which I have already made to our King and which was not granted, which seems to show that I have his confidence/'
Bouril flushed and sat down, while the Comte explained in a tired but composed voice that everyone understood his duty after his own fashion. Not being a courtier, he did not feel strong enough to make his views triumph in the teeth of unanimous opposition. Wasn’t it enough that, from his own distant province, he had managed to pay into the Royal Treasury every year more than a quarter of what the whole of Languedoc was paying to France; and wasn’t it understandable, if he thus laboured for the common good, even though it was to his own benefit as well, that he preferred to give no publicity to his discoveries, for fear of being com¬pelled to exile himself, as many misunderstood scientists and inventors had had to do?
“In short, you admit that you were in a bitter and disparaging frame of mind with regard to the kingdom,” the President remarked with the same mildness.
Angelique shuddered again. Desgrez raised his arm.
“Monsieur le President, forgive me. I know the time has not yet come for me to plead, but I would like to remind you that the defendant is one of the most loyal subjects of His Majesty, who honoured him by paying him a visit in Toulouse and afterwards personally invited him to his wedding. You cannot, without yourself discrediting His Majesty, suggest that the Comte de Peyrac worked against him and against the kingdom.”
“Silence, Maitre. I have been very indulgent to let you say all this, and believe me that we are taking note of it. But do not interrupt what is still a direct examination, whicli will enlighten all the jury about the accused and his affairs.”
Desgrez sat down. The President reminded the court that the King’s desire for justice demanded that everything should be given a hearing, including justified criticisms, but that it was for the King alone to judge his own conduct.
“But there's the crime of lese-majesti . . .” Bourie cried again.
“I am not entertaining the charge of lise-majestlsaid Massenau firmly.
Massenau continued the interrogation by saying that apart from the transmutation of gold, which the accused himself did not deny but claimed to be a natural and in no way diabolical phenomenon, there was abundant testimony to the effect that he had the power of fascinating people and, more particularly, very young women. And that the impious and dissolute gatherings organised by him were generally attended by a great majority of women, “which was a certain sign of Satanic inter¬vention, for at witches’ sabbaths the number of women always exceeded that of men”.
And as Peyrac remained silent and seemingly lost in reverie, Massenau became impatient.
“What is your answer to this precise question which is suggested by a scrutiny of the cases that have come up before the Church authorities, and which seems to embarrass you greatly?”
Joffrey gave a start, as if he was waking up.
“Since you insist, Monsieur le President, I shall answer two things. First, I am not certain that you are so very familiar with the proceedings of the official court of Rome, die details of which cannot be communicated outside ecclesiastical tribunals; secondly, your knowledge of these singular facts can only have been acquired by personal experience, which is to say that you must at least have attended one of those satanic sabbaths which I for my part, I confess, have never yet come across in all my life, rich in adventures though it has been.”
The President leaped with rage. He remained speechless for a long while, then spoke with a threatening calmness:
“Accused, I could turn this circumstance to account and stop listening to you, try you in your absence and even deprive you of all means of defence by a third party. But I do not wish that, in the eyes of some ill- intentioned persons, you should pass for a martyr of I don’t know what sombre cause. That is why I shall let other sworn judges pursue this questioning, in the hope that you may not discourage them from listening to you. I call upon you, Councillor of the Protestants!”
A tall, stem-faced man rose.
The President of the jury exhorted him:
“You are here as a judge, Monsieur Delmas. You owe it to the majesty of justice to listen to the accused seated.”
Delmas sat down again.
“Before starting to question the accused,” he said, “I would like to make a request of the court; a request which is prompted by no biased leniency towards the accused, but merely by a humane concern. It is com¬mon knowledge that the defendant has been an invalid since childhood. As the hearing has every chance of being protracted, I would ask the court to authorise the accused to sit down, for he may succumb to faintness.”
“It is out of the question!” Bourie broke in. “The accused must attend the hearing, kneeling, under the crucifix, as formally required by tradition. The court is already lenient in allowing him to remain standing.”
“I repeat my request/’ the Councillor for the Protestants persisted.
“Of course,” yelped Bourie, “it’s no secret that you consider the condemned man almost as a co-religionist, because he was suckled by a Huguenot nurse and alleges he was molested by Catholics in his infancy.”
“I repeat that it’s a matter of humanity and wisdom. The crimes this man is accused of horrify me as much as they do you, Monsieur Bourie, but if he falls in a swoon, we’ll never finish with this trial.”
“I shall not swoon and I thank you, Monsieur Delmas. Let us con¬tinue, if you please.” The accused cut short the argument in so authoritative a tone that the court, after some wavering, complied.
“Monsieur de Peyrac,” Delmas resumed, “I accept in good faith your oath to speak the truth, and also your affirmation that you had no contacts with the evil spirit. However, there remain too many obscure points for your good faith to be strikingly obvious in the eyes of justice. That’s why I ask you to reply to the questions I am going to put to you without seeing in them anything but a desire on my part to dispel the dreadful doubts that hang over your deeds. You claim to have extracted gold from rocks which, according to qualified people, do not contain any. Let us grant it. But why did you engage in such odd, laborious work for which you were not intended by your noble rank?”
“In the first place, I wished to gather riches by working and putting to use the intellectual gifts I had received. Others solicit pensions or live at their neighbours’ expense, or else remain paupers. As none of these three solutions suited me, I sought to make the most of myself and my few estates. By doing so, I do not think I ran counter to the teachings of God Himself, for He has said: ‘Thou shalt not bury thy talents.’ This means, I take it, that if we have a gift or a talent, we haven’t the option to use it or not, but a divine obligation to make it fructify.”
The magistrate’s face became stony.
“It is not for you, Monsieur, to speak to us of divine obligations. But let us proceed. . . . Why did you surround yourself either with libertines, or with bizarre people from abroad who, without actually being convicted of espionage against our country, are not exactly friends of France, or even of Rome, from what I have been told?”
“Those whom you consider bizarre are in fact mostly foreign scientists Swiss, Italian or German, with whose research I would compare my own Arguing about the gravitation of the earth and the universe is an in¬offensive pastime. As for the licentiousness I am reproached with, what happened at my palace was no more scandalous than was customary at a time when chivalrous love, according to learned men, ‘was civilising society’, and certainly much less scandalous than what is happening every night at Court and in all the taverns of the capital.”
This daring declaration made the court frown. But Joffrey de Peyrac, raising his hand, cried:
“You, gentlemen—magistrates and gentlemen of the robe who form part of this gathering—I am well aware that by your pure morals and prudent life you represent one of the soundest elements of society. Do not take offence at a statement which is aimed against a way of life other than yours, and at words which you yourselves have often murmured in your heart.”
Tliis adroit sincerity disconcerted and flattered the judges and the clerics. Delmas coughed and pretended he was turning the pages of the file.
“You are said to be familiar with a dozen languages.”
“Pic de la Mirandole, in the last century, spoke eighteen, and nobody suggested at the time that Satan himself had gone to the trouble of teach¬ing them to him.”
“Anyway, it is a recognised fact that you bewitched women. I do no want needlessly to humiliate a man already stricken with misfortunes and disfavours, but looking at you it is hard to believe that your physique alone attracted women to such a point that they killed themselves and went into raptures at the mere sight of you.”
“We must not exaggerate,” the Comte retorted with a modest smile. “Those who let themselves be bewitched, as you say, were the ones who wanted to be; as for a few highly-strung girls, we all have come across some of their kind. The convent, or rather the hospital, are the only places suited for them, and we mustn’t judge women by the example of a few mad ones.”
Delmas made a show of even greater solemnity.
“It is of public notoriety, and borne out by numerous reports, that in your Courts of Love at Toulouse—which is an impious institution in its very principle, for God said: ‘Thou shalt love in order to procreate*— you publicly glorified the carnal act.”
“The Lord never said: ‘Thou shalt procreate like a dog or a bitch,* and I don’t see in what respect the teaching of the science of love is diabolical.” “What is diabolical is the magic you practised!”
“If I were as skilled in magic as all that, I shouldn’t be here.”
Bourie got up and roared:
“In your Courts of Love you preached disrespect for the laws of the Church; you said that the institution of marriage was an obstacle to feelings of love, and that there was no merit in being devout.”
“I may indeed have said that merit does not consist simply in displaying devoutness if on the other hand one is mean and heartless, but that the true merit which pleases women consists in being merry, a good rhymester, a skilful and a generous lover. And if I also said that marriage is an obstacle to feelings of love, I was referring to it not as an institution blessed by God, but to what in our day has become a positive trade of interests, a shameful barter, in which parents negotiate lands and dowry, and young people frequently are united by force or threats without their ever having set eyes on each other. It’s methods of this kind that have ruined the sacred principle of marriage, for couples linked by such chains can only seek release from them in sin.”
“You are again insolent enough to preach at us!” protested Delmas, at a loss.
“Alas, we Gascons all have a somewhat teasing disposition and a tendency to criticise,” the Comte admitted. “And this turn of mind has led me to war against the absurdities of my century. In this I have imitated a famous hidalgo, Don Quixote de la Mancha, who tilted at windmills, and I am much afraid that I have proved as foolish as he.”
Another hour passed, during which various judges put a series of most incongruous questions to the accused. He was asked what method he used to render flowers ‘bewitching*, so that the mere sending of a bouquet entranced the person who received it; the formula of the aphrodisiacs which he poured out for the guests of the Courts of Love and which sent them into ‘lewd trances*; and finally, with how many women he was able to make love simultaneously.
The Comte de Peyrac answered these abstruse questions either with a shrug of disdain or an ironical smile. It was obvious that nobody believed him when he asserted that in love he made do with one woman at a time. Bourie, whom the other judges allowed to pursue this delicate subject, remarked with a smirk:
“Your amorous capacity is so renowned that we weren’t surprised to learn that you practised so many shameful amusements.”
“If your experience were as great as my amorous capacity,” the Comte de Peyrac replied with a caustic smile, “you would know that the search for such amusements derives from impotence, which seeks the excitement it needs in abnormal pleasures. As for me, gentlemen, I confess that one woman at a time, met in the discreet solitude of night, is all I need to fulfil my desires. I would even add this,” he added in a graver tone of voice, “I challenge all the malicious tongues of Toulouse and Languedoc to prove that, since my marriage, I was ever considered the kJver of any woman other than my wife.”
“The investigations do indeed bear out this detail,” Judge Delmas approved.
“Oh! a very minor detail !” said Joffrey, laughing.
The court fidgeted with embarrassment. Massenau motioned to Bourie to drop the matter, but the latter, who had not forgiven the systematic rejection of the documents he had so carefully forged, did not consider himself beaten.
“You did not answer the charge brought against you of having poured into the drinks of your guests exciting products which led them to commit odious sins against the Seventh Commandment.”
“I know that there are products intended for this, such as cantharides. But I have never been in favour of provoking artificially an excitement which should be generated solely by the pulsations of a generous life and the natural inspirations of desire.”
“It has been reported, however, that you gave a good deal of attention to the food and drink supplied to your guests.”
“Wasn’t that natural? Wouldn’t any man, desirous to please those whom he invites, do likewise?”
“You claimed that what one ate and drank had an influence on seducing the man or woman whom one wished to conquer. You taught charms. . . .”
“Not at all. I taught that we should savour the gifts which the earth bestows on us, but that, in all things, to arrive at the desired ends we must learn the rules that lead up to them.”
“Give us some details of your teaching.”
Joffrey looked around and Angelique saw the flash of his smile.
“I notice that these questions fascinate you, gentlemen of the court, just as they do less aged adolescents. Whether we be a schoolboy or a magistrate, don’t we all dream of conquering our lady-love? Alas, gentle¬men, I fear I shall much disappoint you. I have no magic formula. What I teach is human wisdom. Thus, Monsieur le President, when as a young clerk you first set foot in these solemn precincts, did you not think it natural to instruct yourself in all that might some day enable you to reach the position that you occupy today? You would have considered it mad to mount the bench and start to speak without a prolonged study of your case. For many years you took care to avoid all the obstacles that might rise in your path. Why should we not bring the same care to matters of love? Ignorance, in all things, is harmful, not to say blameworthy. There was nothing occult about my teaching. And since Monsieur Bourie asks me to define it, I would advise him, for instance, when he is on his way home in a gay mood and well-disposed to caress his wife, not to stop at a tavern and down several tankards of light beer. He might well find himself a little later in a sorry plight in his feather-bed, while his dis¬appointed spouse would be tempted to respond to the gallant ogling of some friendly musketeer she might meet the next day. . .
Some bursts of laughter rang out and there was a ripple of applause.
“I certainly admit,*’ Joffrey’s melodious voice continued, “that I am in a wretched state to speak in this way. But since I must reply to an accusation, I would conclude by repeating this: if you wish to devote yourself to the service of Venus, there is, I hold, no better stimulant than a pretty girl whose healthy complexion stirs you not to spurn carnal love.”
“Accused,” Massenau said severely, “I must once again recall you to decency. Remember that there are holy women in this court-room who have dedicated their maidenhood to God.”
“Monsieur le President, may I point out that it was not I who led the . . . conversation, if I may call it thus, to this slippery and . . . charming ground.”
There was more laughter. Delmas remarked that this part of the examination should have been conducted in Latin, but Fallot de Sancc, speaking up for the first time, objected not unreasonably that, since every-body in the audience, which was composed of lawyers, priests and nuns, understood Latin, there would have been no point in putting oneself out merely for the chaste ears of the military, archers and halberdiers.
Angelique had the impression that, though the hearing on the whole had been confused, the argument boiled down to the sole charge of witch¬craft, diabolic spells over women, and ‘the power of making real gold* obtained by alchemic and satanic means.
She sighed with relief: with this single charge of trafficking with Satan, her husband stood a chance of extricating himself from the claws of royal justice. Desgrez could call on the evidence of the faked probe to show up the vice of procedure in the bogus exorcism to which Joffrey had been subjected. And finally, to show in what consisted ‘the increase of gold*, the demonstration to be given by the old Saxon Hauer would perhaps convince the judges.
Angelique then let herself relax for a moment and closed her eyes.