JOAN DARC (consults her memory for a moment)--"Franquet of Arras was a captain of Burgundian marauders. I took him prisoner in battle. He confessed to being a traitor, a thief and a murderer. His trial consumed fifteen days before the judges of Senlis. I asked mercy for the man, hoping to exchange him for a worthy bourgeois of Paris who was a prisoner of the English. But learning that the bourgeois died in prison, I said to the bailiff of Senlis: 'The prisoner whose exchange I wished to obtain has died. You may, if you think fit, execute justice upon Franquet of Arras, traitor, thief and murderer.'" A JUDGE--"Did you give money to the one who helped you capture Franquet of Arras?" JOAN DARC (shrugging her shoulders)--"I am neither minister nor treasurer of France, to order money to be paid out." BISHOP CAUCHON--"You placed your arms _ex voto_ in the basilica of St. Denis. What did you mean by that?" JOAN DARC (remains silent for an instant, absorbed in painful recollections. Seriously wounded under the walls of Paris, she had upon recovery offered her armor to the Virgin Mary as a pious homage, and did so also through an impulse of indignation, that was provoked by the cowardice of Charles VII, who, after the prodigies of the Maid's victorious campaign, had returned to Touraine to join his mistresses. Vainly had Joan said to him: "Face the English, who almost alone defend the walls of Paris; present yourself bravely at the gates of the town promising to the Parisians oblivion for the past and harmony for the future; it is almost certain that you will thus conquer your capital!" But the royal poltroon had recoiled before the danger connected with such a step. In utter despair, Joan had decided to renounce war, she gave up her armor, and offered it up _ex voto_. Joan can not make such an admission to the priests. Guided by the generosity of her soul and instructed by her sound judgment, she would prefer to die rather than accuse Charles VII and cover him with ignominy in the eyes of his enemies. She sees France in the royalty. The King's shame would fall indelibly upon the country itself. Her answer is accordingly so framed as to save the honor of Charles VII)--"I was wounded under the walls of Poitiers; I offered my armor at the altar of the Holy Virgin in thankfulness that my wound was not mortal." THE INQUISITOR (seeming to remember something that he had forgotten)--"Did you, during the time that you were making war in battle harness and man's attire, take the Eucharist?" The stir among the priests and the silence that falls upon the tribunal indicates the gravity of the question put to the accused. JOAN DARC--"I partook of communion as often as I could, and not as often as I would have wished." BISHOP CAUCHON (excitedly)--"Registrars, did you enter that?" A REGISTRAR--"Yes, monseigneur." BISHOP CAUCHON--"Whence did you come the last time you went to Compiegne?"