Page:In defense of Harriet Shelley, and other essays.djvu/392

 CHAPTER III

r*HE Trials ended with her condemnation. But as 1 she had conceded nothing, confessed nothing, this was victory for her, defeat for Cauchon. But his evil resources were not yet exhausted. She was per suaded to agree to sign a paper of slight import, then by treachery a paper was substituted which con tained a recantation and a detailed confession of everything which had been charged against her dur ing the Trials and denied and repudiated by her persistently during the three months; and this false paper she ignorantly signed. This was a victory for Cauchon. He followed it eagerly and pitilessly up by at once setting a trap for her which she could not escape. When she realized this she gave up the long struggle, denounced the treason which had been practised against her, repudiated the false confes sion, reasserted the truth of the testimony which she had given in the Trials, and went to her martyrdom with the peace of God in her tired heart, and on hef lips endearing words and loving prayers for the cut she had crowned and the nation of ingrates she had saved.

When the fires rose about her and she begged for a cross for her dying lips to kiss, it was not a friend but an enemy, not a Frenchman but an alien, not

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