ou guard me against all
deception." "So help me God, it shall surely be done." "Then, I swear,
as you have said," and once more Mahaut went out.

One can forgive her exasperation at finding that the persistent
relatives were still not satisfied; poor woman, she felt that all she
possessed and all her children possessed was somehow at stake, and she
helplessly ignorant, like too many other women, of the technical points
of the law. Again, feeling that her counsellors were probably in the
right in protesting against the conditional oath she had taken, Mahaut
went into the royal presence. The Sire de Noiers, marshal of France,
protested that everyone was acting in good faith by her, and that the
king merely wished her to take the oath without equivocation or
reservation: "Sire de Noiers, I am here, as you can see, without
counsel; some of the king's councillors have so intimidated mine that
they dared not appear before you; God alone inspired me to say what I
did say; have I not several times sworn as my lord commanded? What is
there so amazing in the king's promising to succor me, a widow, in case
of deception? Does he not owe this same protection to every widow in his
kingdom? What I have sworn should suffice." Another councillor protested
that her conditional oath was an insult to the King's councillors; there
was crimination and recrimination, till at length the badgered countess,
sighing deeply, appealed to Philippe: "Ah! dear Sire, have pity upon me,
a poor widow driven from her heritage, and here without counsel! You see
how your people besiege me, one barking on my right, another at my left,
till I know not what to answer, in the great trouble of my mind. For
God's sake, give me time to deliberate upon this matter.... I am willing
to take any oath you wish." Then, when the chancellor again held out his
Bible and required her to swear fearlessly and without conditions, she
broke forth in tears: "Many times have I sworn already! I swear again, I
swear, I swear, may evil come upon my body if I swear not truly!" And
she rushed out and hurriedly left for Paris, in spite of all
remonstrances. It was not till the next day that, her advisers succeeded
in persuading her to take the oath in proper form, as the king wished it
taken.

One may think that this quibbling, this Jesuitical swearing with a
mental reservation to be bound only so far as seemed good to herself,
was unworthy of Mahaut; it was, as a matter of fact, but