When she re-entered the audience hall, pale and limping, she was received with a general murmur1 of pleasure. On the part of the audience there was the feeling of impatience2 gratified which one experiences at the theatre at the end of the last entr'acte of the comedy, when the curtain rises and the conclusion is about to begin. On the part of the judges, it was the hope of getting their suppers sooner.
The little goat also bleated3 with joy. He tried to run towards his mistress, but they had tied him to the bench.
Night was fully4 set in. The candles, whose number had not been increased, cast so little light, that the walls of the hall could not be seen. The shadows there enveloped5 all objects in a sort of mist. A few apathetic6 faces of judges alone could be dimly discerned. Opposite them, at the extremity7 of the long hail, they could see a vaguely8 white point standing9 out against the sombre background. This was the accused.
She had dragged herself to her place. When Charmolue had installed himself in a magisterial10 manner in his own, he seated himself, then rose and said, without exhibiting too much self-complacency at his success,--"The accused has confessed all."
"Bohemian girl," the president continued, "have you avowed11 all your deeds of magic, prostitution, and assassination12 on Phoebus de Chateaupers."
Her heart contracted. She was heard to sob13 amid the darkness.
"Anything you like," she replied feebly, "but kill me quickly!"
"Monsieur, procurator of the king in the ecclesiastical courts," said the president, "the chamber14 is ready to hear you in your charge."
Master Charmolue exhibited an alarming note book, and began to read, with many gestures and the exaggerated accentuation of the pleader, an oration15 in Latin, wherein all the proofs of the suit were piled up in Ciceronian periphrases, flanked with quotations16 from Plautus, his favorite comic author. We regret that we are not able to offer to our readers this remarkable17 piece. The orator18 pronounced it with marvellous action. Before he had finished the exordium, the perspiration19 was starting from his brow, and his eyes from his bead20.
All at once, in the middle of a fine period, he interrupted himself, and his glance, ordinarily so gentle and even stupid, became menacing.
"Gentlemen," he exclaimed (this time in French, for it was not in his copy book), "Satan is so mixed up in this affair, that here he is present at our debates, and making sport of their majesty21. Behold22!"
So saying, he pointed23 to the little goat, who, on seeing Charmolue gesticulating, had, in point of fact, thought it appropriate to do the same, and had seated himself on his haunches, reproducing to the best of his ability, with his forepaws and his bearded head the pathetic pantomine of the king's procurator in the ecclesiastical court. This was, if the reader remembers, one of his prettiest accomplishments24. This incident, this last proof, produced a great effect. The goat's hoofs25 were tied, and the king's procurator resumed the thread of his eloquence26.
It was very long, but the peroration27 was admirable. Here is the concluding phrase; let the reader add the hoarse28 voice and the breathless gestures of Master Charmolue,
"~Ideo, domni, coram stryga demonstrata, crimine patente, intentione criminis existente, in nornine sanctoe ecclesioe Nostroe- Domince Parisiensis quoe est in saisina habendi omnimodam altam et bassam justitiam in illa hac intemerata Civitatis insula, tenore proesentium declaremus nos requirere, primo, aliquamdam pecuniariam indemnitatem; secundo, amendationem honorabilem ante portalium maximum Nostroe-Dominoe, ecclesioe cathedralis; tertio, sententiani in virtute cujus ista styrga cum sua capella, seu in trivio vulgariter dicto~ la Grève, ~seu in insula exeunte in fluvio Secanoe, juxta pointam juardini regalis, executatoe sint~!"*
* The substance of this exordium is contained in the president's sentence.
He put on his cap again and seated himself.
"Eheu!" sighed the broken-hearted Gringoire, "~bassa latinitas~--bastard latin!"
Another man in a black gown rose near the accused; he was her lawyer.--The judges, who were fasting, began to grumble29.
"Advocate, be brief," said the president.
"Monsieur the President," replied the advocate, "since the defendant30 has confessed the crime, I have only one word to say to these gentlemen. Here is a text from the Salic law; 'If a witch hath eaten a man, and if she be convicted of it, she shall pay a fine of eight thousand deniers, which amount to two hundred sous of gold.' May it please the chamber to condemn31 my client to the fine?"
"An abrogated32 text," said the advocate extraordinary of the king.
"Nego, I deny it," replied the advocate.
"Put it to the vote!" said one of the councillors; "the crime is manifest, and it is late."
They proceeded to take a vote without leaving the room. The judges signified their assent33 without giving their reasons, they were in a hurry. Their capped heads were seen uncovering one after the other, in the gloom, at the lugubrious34 question addressed to them by the president in a low voice. The poor accused had the appearance of looking at them, but her troubled eye no longer saw.
Then the clerk began to write; then he handed a long parch- ment to the president.
Then the unhappy girl heard the people moving, the pikes clashing, and a freezing voice saying to her,--"Bohemian wench, on the day when it shall seem good to our lord the king, at the hour of noon, you will be taken in a tumbrel, in your shift, with bare feet, and a rope about your neck, before the grand portal of Notre-Dame, and you will there make an apology with a wax torch of the weight of two pounds in your hand, and thence you will be conducted to the Place de Grève, where you will be hanged and strangled on the town gibbet; and likewise your goat; and you will pay to the official three lions of gold, in reparation of the crimes by you committed and by you confessed, of sorcery and magic, debauchery and murder, upon the person of the Sieur Phoebus de Chateaupers. May God have mercy on your soul!"
"Oh! 'tis a dream!" she murmured; and she felt rough hands bearing her away.
她脸色苍白地跛着脚，回到大厅群众里来，迎接她的是一片欢快的低语声。在群众方面，好象是剧场里奏完了幕间插曲，幕布重新拉开宣告最后一幕开演时的那种不耐烦的满意。在法官方面，则是因为他们很快就能退庭回家吃晚饭了。那只可怜的小山羊也高兴地咩咩叫，它想跳到它的女主人跟前去，但它被绑在凳子上动不了。
天色已经完全黑下来，并没比先前增多的蜡烛，闪着微弱的光，使人连大厅的墙壁都看不清楚。黑暗给一切蒙上了一层雾。只看得见法官们的模糊的脸孔。在他们对面，在大厅的这一头，可以看到一个朦胧的白影子在暗中晃动，那便是被告。
她拖着摇摇欲倒的步子走到她的座位跟前。沙尔莫吕威严地就座了，随后又站起来，竭力不让自己的成功落空，他说道：“被告全部招认啦。”
“波希米亚姑娘，”院长说道，“你招认你的全部巫术罪行，招认你卖淫和刺杀弗比斯·德·沙多倍尔队长的罪行吗？”
她的心头发紧，人们听见她在黑暗里啜泣。“凡是你们希望我招认的我全都招认，但是快点杀死我吧！”她用微弱的声音回答道。
“王室宗教法庭检察官先生，”院长说道，“大理院准备听取您的拷问报告。”
沙尔莫吕打开一本吓人的备忘录，用过多的手势和读辩护词那种夸张的语气，诵读起一篇拉丁文的演讲词来了，其中所有的例证都是他从最喜欢的幽默作家勃拉特的作品里摘引来的，这是些西塞罗式冗长的句子。我们很抱歉不能把这篇出众的东西奉献给读者。演讲人用奇特的姿势高声念诵，还没有念完开头的引言，额上就冒出了汗珠，眼球好象要跳出眼眶。忽然他在一个句子中间停顿下来，他那平常十分温和甚至愚蠢的眼睛，此刻变得恶狠狠的。“先生们，”他喊道（这回他是用法文讲的，因为备忘录里并没有这些话），“在我们的案件里撒旦是这样的嚣张，他竟然亲自出庭扮着鬼脸来侮辱我们的尊严！看呀！”
他一面说一面用手指着那只山羊，山羊看见沙尔莫吕的手势，以为是应该表演一番了，便用两条后腿坐起来，它那两条前腿和有胡须的脑袋拚命在模仿王室宗教法庭检察官那副悲壮的模样。假若读者还记得，这本来是它的绝技之一。但是这个偶然事件，这最后的“证据”，却产生了特别的后果，人们把山羊的四脚捆了起来。王室宗教法庭检察官又继续演讲开了。
演讲词很长，但结尾非常美妙，下面就是那最后几句（读者在这里还可以想象出沙尔莫吕沙哑的声音和喘息的姿势）：“所以，先生们，巫术已被证实，罪状已很清楚，犯罪动机也已了解，凭着高低各级法庭管辖下的巴黎圣母院的名义，我们按照这些文件的精神，要求依法判刑：
一、一笔特别赔偿费。
二、在圣母院大门前举行忏悔仪式。
三、一个判决。根据判决，这个女巫同她的山羊，应该在大家称作格雷沃的广场上，或者在突出于塞纳河并与王室花园相连的小岛上，就地正法。”
他戴上帽子重新就座。
“哎！”伤心的甘果瓦叹息道，“这个神甫的拉丁文是多么低劣！”
被告身边一个穿黑衣服的人站起来了，那是她的律师。法官们因为肚子饿了，都嘀咕起来。
“律师，请说得简短些。”院长说。
“院长先生，”律师回答道，“既然被告已经招认了全部罪行，我只有几句话要向先生们说。沙里克法典里有这样一条：‘假若一个吃人的妖魔认了罪，他可以付出八千德尼埃的罚款——共值两百金索尔。可否请法庭判我的当事人付这笔罚金。”
“这条法律早已作废了。”国王的特别律师说。
“不对！”罪犯的律师申辩道。
“提付表决吧，”一个议员说，“罪状已被证实，现在已经太晚啦。”
于是当庭进行表决，法官们随声附和，因为他们忙着退庭回家。院长低声征求他们意见时，人们看见他们在黑暗里一一脱帽。不幸的犯人好象也在朝他们看，但是她悲苦的眼睛已经什么都看不见了。
于是书记官连忙书写，随后便把一个长长的羊皮纸文件呈递给院长。
随后不幸的姑娘听到人们忙乱了一阵，枪戟碰响了一阵，一个冷酷的声音说道：“波希米亚女子，在国王陛下高兴指定的一个中午，你要只穿衬衣，赤着双脚，脖子上套着绳子，在一阵鼓声里被带到圣母院大门前，手里拿着两磅重的大蜡烛进行忏悔。你从那里再被带到格雷沃广场，在本市的刑台上给绞死。你那小山羊也要给绞死。你要向官府交纳三块金狮洋，用来抵消你所招认的你对弗比斯·德·沙多倍尔队长犯下的罪行，如妖法、巫术、淫乱和刺杀等。愿上帝收留你的灵魂！”
“啊，这是一场梦呀！”她低声说道，随后就感到有几双粗大的手来把她带走了。
收听单词发音 |
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murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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bleated
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| v.（羊，小牛）叫( bleat的过去式和过去分词 )；哭诉；发出羊叫似的声音；轻声诉说 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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enveloped
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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apathetic
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| adj.冷漠的，无动于衷的 | |
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extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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magisterial
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| adj.威风的，有权威的；adv.威严地 | |
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avowed
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| adj.公开声明的，承认的v.公开声明，承认( avow的过去式和过去分词) | |
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assassination
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| n.暗杀；暗杀事件 | |
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sob
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| n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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oration
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| n.演说，致辞，叙述法 | |
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quotations
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| n.引用( quotation的名词复数 )；[商业]行情（报告）；（货物或股票的）市价；时价 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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orator
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| n.演说者，演讲者，雄辩家 | |
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perspiration
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| n.汗水；出汗 | |
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bead
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| n.念珠；(pl.)珠子项链；水珠 | |
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majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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accomplishments
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| n.造诣；完成( accomplishment的名词复数 )；技能；成绩；成就 | |
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hoofs
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| n.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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peroration
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| n.（演说等之）结论 | |
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hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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grumble
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| vi.抱怨；咕哝；n.抱怨，牢骚；咕哝，隆隆声 | |
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defendant
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| n.被告；adj.处于被告地位的 | |
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condemn
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| vt.谴责，指责；宣判(罪犯)，判刑 | |
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abrogated
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| 废除（法律等）( abrogate的过去式和过去分词 )； 取消； 去掉； 抛开 | |
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assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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lugubrious
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| adj.悲哀的，忧郁的 | |
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