Page:Memoirs of a Huguenot Family.djvu/84

 78 I then inquired whether she was able to remember a sermon she heard from one of the preachers of her own religion. She appeared piqued that I could entertain a doubt upon the subject, and answered, most unhesitatingly, that she could remember it. I did not require that to be written.

I then apologized for giving her the trouble, but humbly begged of her to oblige me by repeating to the President any passages she could remember of my prayers, because I felt assured he would find nothing to reprehend; he would rather esteem me for them, than wish to bring punishment upon me.

She was abashed at having to acknowledge any deficiency in the memory, of which she had just now boasted, and she was therefore compelled to tell the truth, and to say that she could not oblige me, because I always spoke in so low a tone that she could not hear what I said.

That was written, and I was satisfied.

We both signed the confrontation, or, more properly, the refutation of the accusation. I then requested the President to set me at liberty, for I pointed out to him that every one of the witnesses had given contradictory evidence, and upon such, he could not think of sending me to the worse prison, with which I had been threatened.

The King's Advocate replied in an indignant tone, that I had been guilty of holding illegal assemblies within the prison.

I answered pleasantly enough to that accusation: "You are wrong to impute that crime to me. The Grand Provost and his Archers are to blame for it, and if you will order the prison doors to be opened, I will take upon myself to disperse the assembly, without loss of time."