"I can hear what you say, but it makes no mark on my brain."
Villon's words ran fast from him:
"I am François Villon and yet no longer he, for my old evil self is dead. I am François Villon who served you with his sword, who praised you with his pen, and who loves you with all his soul."
The girl's whole body shook with fear as she answered:
"It isn't true! It isn't true! I don't believe you."
Villon sprang to his feet.
"Whatever my fate is," he cried, "you shall know the truth."
Turning to where the released conspirators stood apart, he called to them peremptorily:
"Guy! Eene! All of you, come here!"
Amazed to be thus summoned in their own names by so great a personage as the Grand Constable of France, the thieves crept forward timidly and, in obedience to Villon's commanding gestures, gathered about him as he turned to them, pressing his face near to their faces, and cried: