he methods of
that tribunal.

The trial was conducted in private by the Keeper of the Seals--a
lean, wizened individual, with an air as musty and dry as that of the
parchments among which he had spent his days. He was supported by
six judges, and on his right sat the King's Commissioner, Monsieur
de Chatellerault--the bruised condition of whose countenance still
advertised the fact that we had met but yesterday.

Upon being asked my name and place of abode, I created some commotion
by answering boldly "I am the Sieur Marcel de Saint-Pol, Marquis of
Bardelys, of Bardelys in Picardy."

The President--that is to say, the Keeper of the Seals--turned
inquiringly to Chatellerault. The Count, however, did no more than
smile and point to something written on a paper that lay spread upon the
table. The President nodded.

"Monsieur Rene de Lesperon," said he, "the Court may perhaps not be able
to discriminate whether this statement of yours is a deliberate attempt
to misguide or frustrate the ends of justice, or whether, either in
consequence of your wounds or as a visitation of God for your treason,
you are the victim of a deplorable hallucination. But the Court wishes
you to understand that it is satisfied of your identity. The papers
found upon your person at the time of your arrest, besides other
evidence in our power, remove all possibility of doubt in that
connection. Therefore, in your own interests, we implore you to abandon
these false statements, if so be that you are master of your wits. Your
only hope of saving your head must lie in your truthfully answering our
questions, and even then, Monsieur de Lesperon, the hope that we hold
out to you is so slight as to be no hope at all."

There was a pause, during which the other judges nodded their heads in
sage approval of their President's words. For myself, I kept silent,
perceiving how little it could avail me to continue to protest, and
awaited his next question.

"You were arrested, monsieur, at the Chateau de Lavedan two nights ago
by a company of dragoons under the command of Captain de Castelroux. Is
that so?"

"It is so, monsieur."

"And at the time of your arrest, upon being apprehended as Rene de
Lesperon, you offered no repudiation of the identity; on the contrary,
when Monsieur de Castelroux called for Monsieur de Lesperon, you stepped
forward and acknowledged that you were he."

"Pardon, monsieur. What I acknowledged was that I was known by that
n