When the chanting ceased, Prince Edward spoke in a voice that thrilled to every heart, "Sir Francis d'Essai! thou who didst receive the sword of knighthood from the hand of the good St. Louis, dost stand before us this day attaint of treason to thy God, thy truth, and the lady of thy love. Wherefore thy peers have willed that the order of knighthood, by the which thou hast received all the honor and worship upon thy body, _be brought to nought_, and thy state be undone, and thou be driven forth outcast and dishonored according to thy base deserts." Instantly the brazen tongue from the belfry ratified the fiat, and announced the hour of doom. At the word, the squire with trembling hand removed the helmet, the defence of disloyal eyes, revealing the pale and haggard countenance of the recreant knight, and the choir resumed the mournful dirge. Then each pursuivant advanced in his order to the performance of his unwelcome duty. One by one the knightly trappings of D'Essai were torn from his body, and as cuirass, greaves, brassarts, and gauntlets rang upon the pavements, the heralds exclaimed, "Behold the harness of a miscreant!" Trembling and bent beneath the weight of shame, the craven stood, while they smote the golden spurs from his heels, and brake his dishonored sword above his head, and the terrible requiem wailed over the perished emblems of his former innocence. The Grand Master of the Templars then entered upon the stage, bearing a silver basin filled with tepid water, and the herald, holding it up, exclaimed, "By what name call men the knight before us?" The pursuivants answered, "The name which was given him in baptism,--the name by which his father was known,--the name confirmed to him in chivalry is Sir Francis d'Essai." The heralds again replied, "Falsehood sits upon his tongue and rules in his heart; he is miscreant, traitor, and Infidel." Immediately the Grand Master, in imitation of baptism, dashed the water in his face, saying, "Henceforth be thou called by thy right name, Traitor!" Then the heralds rang out a shrill note upon the trumpets, expressive of the demand, "What shall be done with the false-hearted knave?" Prince Edward in his majesty arose, and in a voice agitated with a sense of the awful penalty, replied, "Let him with dishonor and shame be banished from the kingdom of Christ--Let his brethren curse him, and let not the angels of God intercede for him."