The Bishop’s anger was very high now. He could not reconcile himself to the idea of giving up the torture. It was the pleasantest idea he had invented yet, and he would not cast it by. So he called in some of his satellites on the twelfth, and urged the torture again. But it was a failure.
With some, Joan’s speech had wrought an effect; others feared she might die under torture; others did not believe that any amount of suffering could make her put her mark to a lying confession. There were fourteen men present, including the Bishop. Eleven of them voted dead against the torture, and stood their ground in spite of Cauchon’s abuse. Two voted with the Bishop and insisted upon the torture. These two were Loyseleur and the orator—the man whom Joan had bidden to “read his book”—Thomas de Courcelles, the renowned pleader and master of eloquence.
Age has taught me charity of speech; but it fails me when I think of those three names—Cauchon, Courcelles, Loyseleur.
(1) Hog, pig.
(2) Cochonner, to litter, to farrow; also, “to make a mess of”!
(3) The lower half of it remains to-day just as it was then; the upper half is of a later date. — TRANSLATOR.
17 Supreme in Direst Peril
