THE INQUISITOR [_rising_] Silence, pray! Gentlemen: pray silence! Master Chaplain: bethink you a moment of your holy office: of what you are, and where you are. I direct you to sit down. THE CHAPLAIN [_folding his arms doggedly, his face working convulsively_] I will NOT sit down. CAUCHON. Master Inquisitor; this man has called me a traitor to my face before now. THE CHAPLAIN. So you are a traitor. You are all traitors. You have been doing nothing but begging this damnable witch on your knees to recant all through this trial. THE INQUISITOR [_placidly resuming his seat_] If you will not sit, you must stand: that is all. THE CHAPLAIN. I will NOT stand [_he flings himself back into his chair_]. LADVENU [_rising with the paper in his hand_] My lord: here is the form of recantation for The Maid to sign. CAUCHON. Read it to her. JOAN. Do not trouble. I will sign it. THE INQUISITOR. Woman: you must know what you are putting your hand to. Read it to her, Brother Martin. And let all be silent. LADVENU [_reading quietly_] “I, Joan, commonly called The Maid, a miserable sinner, do confess that I have most grievously sinned in the following articles. I have pretended to have revelations from God and the angels and the blessed saints, and perversely rejected the Church’s warnings that these were temptations by demons. I have blasphemed abominably by wearing an immodest dress, contrary to the Holy Scripture and the canons of the Church. Also I have clipped my hair in the style of a man, and, against all the duties which have made my sex specially acceptable in heaven, have taken up the sword, even to the shedding of human blood, inciting men to slay each other, invoking evil spirits to delude them, and stubbornly and most blasphemously imputing these sins to Almighty God. I confess to the sin of sedition, to the sin of idolatry, to the sin of disobedience, to the sin of pride, and to the sin of heresy. All of which sins I now renounce and abjure and depart from, humbly thanking you Doctors and Masters who have brought me back to the truth and into the grace of our Lord. And I will never return to my errors, but will remain in communion with our Holy Church and in obedience to our Holy Father the Pope of Rome. All this I swear by God Almighty and the Holy Gospels, in witness whereto I sign my name to this recantation.” THE INQUISITOR. You understand this, Joan? JOAN [_listless_] It is plain enough, sir. THE INQUISITOR. And it is true? JOAN. It may be true. If it were not true, the fire would not be ready for me in the market-place. LADVENU [_taking up his pen and a book, and going to her quickly lest she should compromise herself again_] Come, child: let me guide your hand. Take the pen. [_She does so; and they begin to write, using the book as a desk_] J.E.H.A.N.E. So. Now make your mark by yourself. JOAN [_makes her mark, and gives him back the pen, tormented by the rebellion of her soul against her mind and body_] There!