"Attached for high treason, sir, you are no longer a magistrate," replied the sergeant. "At all events, I do not hold myself justified in apprehending anybody against whom I have no warrant, more especially when I found you raising your hand illegally against the very person's life whom you now accuse. I can take no heed of the matter: you must come."
"He shall be satisfied," said Sir Cesar. "Venomless serpent! I will follow thee now till thy last hour. But think not that thou canst hurt me, for thy power has gone from thee; and though wicked as a demon, thou art weak as a child. I know that we are doomed to pass the same gate, but not to journey on the same road. Lead on, sergeant; I will go on with you; and then, if this bad man have aught to urge against me, let him do it."
"Go if you will, sir," replied the officer; "but remember, you act according to your own pleasure; I make no arrest in your case: you are free to come with us or to stay, as you think fit."
Sir Payan was now led back to the house, which was in possession of the king's archers; and as he passed through his own hall, with a burning heart, the hasty glance that he cast around amongst his servants showed him at once, that though there were none to pity or befriend, there were many full ready to betray. Then rushed upon his mind the accusations that they might pile upon his head, now that they saw him sinking below the stream. The certainty of death; the dread of something after death; doubts of his own scepticism; the innate, all-powerful conviction of a future state--a state growing dreadfully perceptible to his eye as he approached the brink of that yawning gulf which his own acts had peopled with strange fears; all that he had scoffed at, all that he had despised, now assumed a new and fearful character: even the world's opinion, the world's contemned opinion, came across his thought: that there was not one heart on all the earth would mourn his end, that hatred and abhorrence would go with him to the grave, and that his memory would only live with infamy in the records of crime and punishment. Burying his face in his hands, he sat in deep, despairing, agonising silence while his horse was being prepared, and while the officer put his seal upon the various doors which he thought it necessary to secure.
A few hours brought the whole party to Dover, and the next day saw their arrival at Calais; but by that time the court had removed to Guisnes; and the sergeant, having no orders to bring his prisoner farther, sent forward a messenger to announce his arrival and demand instructions.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
Once more the fleeting soul came back
T' inspire the mortal frame,
And in the body took a doubtful stand,
Hovering like expiring flame,