"Ha, ha, ha, ha! That is well said, my Hercules! To roast Bishop Cauchon like a pig! That would be a funny spectacle!" "They are taking long! Death to the witch!" "Do they expect us to sleep here to-night?" "To the fagots with the heretic!" "Death to the relapsed sinner!" "To the pyre with the invoker of demons! The strumpet! Death to Joan!" "She cheated the people!" "She denies the religion of Jesus Christ!" "To the pyre with the idolatress! The apostate! To the pyre with her, quick and soon!" Such are the clamors of the English and the partisans of Burgundy. The royalists or Armagnacs are much less numerous. A few of them, especially women, experience a return of pity for Joan Darc, whose abjuration incensed all those who believed her inspired. With some this indignation still is uppermost and in full force. As these sentiments are indicative of sympathy, they are not uttered aloud but whispered out of fear of the English. "Well, though the Maid's strength once failed her, it will not fail her to-day." "It would seem that she had not lied to us. She will now maintain until death that she is inspired of God. Poor child." "And yet she abjured!" "Whoever lied once may lie again." "If she abjured it was out of fear of the flames--that can be easily understood." "She proved herself a coward! And she was thought so brave!" "Well, in the face of the pyre one may well tremble! Just look at those fagots soaked in pitch." "When one thinks that the whole pile will be in flames all around Joan like so much straw on fire, singeing and consuming her flesh!" "My hair stands on end at the bare thought." "Poor child! What a torture!" "What else can you expect? Our seigneurs and the doctors of canon law condemn her. She must be guilty!" "Such learned men could not be mistaken. We must believe them." "When the Church has uttered herself we must bow down in silence. A body has religion, or has none." "Well, I have no suspicions. I am an Armagnac and a royalist, and I detest the English rule. I looked upon Joan as upon a saint before her condemnation. Now I cannot even take pity upon her. It would be throwing discredit upon her judges. My religion as a good Catholic shuts my mouth. We must believe without reasoning." "Did not the ecclesiastical tribunal show how merciful the Church is by accepting Joan's repentance?" "But why did she relapse!" "So much the worse for her if she is now burned. It will be her own doing." "You must admit that by voluntarily going to the pyre she proves her courage. She is an intrepid girl!" "She is simply displaying her rebellion and idolatrous boastfulness." "Did not Joan Darc defeat the English in a score of battles? Did she not have the King consecrated at Rheims? Answer!"