"Ay, do mark it, noble lords! mark it well," continued Albert Maurice, boldly; "I do acknowledge it. Nay, more, I acknowledge that in those letters was the expression of some grief and indignation felt by the people of Namur, on account of infringed rights and violated privileges. But at the same time, I do most strictly deny that I knew one word of the contents of those letters, till they were read by yon bad man in my presence; and still more, I affirm that, even had I known everything that they contained, or had I written them myself, there was no sentence in them which tyranny itself could wrest into such a crime as treason. Lady, and you, Lords of the Council, yon Prevot has called witnesses to tell you what were the contents of those letters, and of the honour and good faith of those witnesses you have had an opportunity of judging. I will now call upon a witness also, with whose character you have equal means of being acquainted. My Lord of Imbercourt, to you I appeal. Those letters were shown to you in my presence; and if you can, upon your knightly honour, declare that they contain treason, do so before the world."
"Your appeal to me, young gentleman," replied the Lord of Imbercourt, "must not be made in vain. I do most solemnly declare, on my honour and oath as a belted knight, that in the letters shown me by the Prevot, as found upon that young citizen's person, though there were some expressions bordering upon turbulent discontent, yet there was nothing, in my poor judgment, which any sane man could construe into treason."
The eyes of Mary of Burgundy had fixed eagerly upon the counsellor as he spoke; and when he uttered the last words, a bright smile of gentle satisfaction lighted up all her features, while a slight glow, spreading over her face, seemed to tell with what anxiety she had listened to the testimony of the Lord of Imbercourt. That smile and that glow were not unmarked by Albert Maurice; and his own cheek flushed, and his own rich voice rather trembled, as he proceeded with the next sentences of his defence.
"On such grounds of accusation, lady," he continued, "was I dragged along, tied hand and foot as a criminal of the worst description, hurried forward in this situation with the rest of the troop, while they attacked a party of routiers in the forest of Hannut, carried on to the castle in that forest, and thrown into a dark dungeon, with a pile of straw for my bed. I thence made my escape----"
"How?" shouted Maillotin du Bac; "how?"
"How matters not," replied Albert Maurice.
"Ay, by my faith, but it does," rejoined the Prevot; "for I accuse you, Sir Citizen, of leaguing with these forest swine that have so long plundered and desolated the land. Every one of my men can bear witness, that for the papers concerning you alone was I attacked near Braine-la-Leud; that they were the first things sought for when we were overpowered by numbers, and that the continual cry of their leaders was, 'Secure the papers.'"
Albert Maurice paused, and the Chancellor Hugonet exclaimed, "You had better explain your escape, young gentleman; this gives a new aspect to the case."
"On the facts that followed I can say something also," observed the Lord of Imbercourt, "having been in the castle of my good brother of Hannut when the absence of the prisoner was first discovered."
"Speak, then, my lord, speak," said Mary of Burgundy, eagerly; "such testimony as yours is beyond all question; and, unaccustomed to such scenes as this, I would fain see this case terminated speedily and well. Speak, then, my lord, and tell us all you know."