“ ‘Show your face,’ demanded the same member of the tribunal who had before addressed him.
“The warrior remained motionless.
“ ‘I command you by the authority of this council.’
“The same answer.
“ ‘By the authority of this realm.’
“Nor for that.
“Indignation rose to its height, even to the point where one of the guards, throwing himself upon the criminal, whose pertinacious silence was enough to exhaust the patience of a saint, violently opened his visor. A general cry of surprise escaped from those within the hall, who remained for an instant smitten with an inconceivable amazement.
“The helmet, whose iron visor, as all could see, was partly lifted toward the forehead, partly fallen over the shining steel gorget, was empty,—entirely empty.
“When, the first moment of terror passed, they would have touched it, the armor shivered slightly and, breaking asunder into its various pieces, fell to the floor with a dull, strange clang.