"Very clerkly read,"he spake,"and all runs smooth;methinks myself had been no poor scribe,were I but a clerk.Hadst thou written other matter,to betray my innocence,thou couldst not remember what I said,even word for word,"he added gleefully."Now I might strangle thee slowly";and he set his fingers about my throat,Ibeing too weak to do more than clutch at his hand,with a grasp like a babe's."But that leaves black finger-marks,another kind of witness than thine in my favour.Or I might give thee the blade of this blessed crucifix;yet dagger wounds are like lips and have a voice,and blood cries from the ground,says Holy Writ.Pardon my tardiness,my poor brother,but this demands deep thought,and holy offices must not be hurried unseemly."He sat now with his back to me,his hand still on my throat,so deep in thought that he heard not,as did my sharpened ears,a door shut softly,and foot-falls echoing in the house below.If I could only cry aloud!but he would stifle me ere the cry reached my throat!
"This will serve,"he said."Thou wilt have died of thy malady,and I will go softly forth,and with hushed voice will tell how the brave young Scot passed quietly to the saints.Yet,after all,Iknow not.Thou hast been sent by Heaven to my aid;clearly thou art an instrument of God to succour the unworthy Brother Thomas.Once and twice thou hast been a boat to carry me on my way,and to save my useful life.A third time thou mightst well be serviceable,not by thy will,alas!but by God's,my poor brother";and he mockingly caressed my face with his abhorred hand."Still,this must even serve,though I would fain find for thee a more bitter way to death";and he gently and carefully drew the pillow from beneath my head."This leaves no marks and tells no tales,and permits no dying cry."He was looking at me,the pillow in his hands,his gesture that of a tender nurse,when a light tap sounded on the door.He paused,then came a louder knock,one pushed,and knocked again.
"Open,in the name of the Dauphin!"came a voice I knew well,the voice of D'Aulon.
"The rope of Judas strangle thee!"said Brother Thomas,dropping the pillow and turning to the casement.But it was heavily barred with stanchions of iron,as the manner is,and thereby he might not flee.
Then came fiercer knocking with a dagger hilt,and the cry,"Open,in the name of the Dauphin,or we burst the door!"Brother Thomas hastily closed the wooden shutter,to darken the chamber as much as might be."Gently,gently,"he said."Disturb not my penitent,who is newly shrived,and about to pass";and so speaking,he withdrew the bolt.
D'Aulon strode in,dagger in hand,followed by the physician.
"What make you here with doors barred,false priest?"he said,laying his hand on the frock of Noiroufle.
"And what make you here,fair squire,with arms in a sick man's chamber,and loud words to disturb the dying?And wherefore callest thou me "false priest"?But an hour agone,the blessed Maid herself brought me hither,to comfort and absolve her follower,to tend him,if he lived and,if he must die,to give him his dues as a Christian man.And the door was bolted that the penitent might be private with his confessor,for he has a heavy weight to unburden his sinful soul withal.""Ay,the Maid sent thee,not knowing who thou wert,the traitor friar taken at St.Loup,and thou hast a tongue that beguiled her simplicity.But one that knew thee saw thy wolfs face in her company,and told me,and I told the Maid,who sent me straightway back from the gate,that justice might be done on thee.Thou art he whom this Scot charged with treason,and would have slain for a spy,some nights agone."Brother Thomas cast up his eyes to heaven.
"Forgive us our trespasses,"said he,"as we forgive them that trespass against us.Verily and indeed I am that poor friar who tends the wounded,and verify I am he against whom this young Scot,as,I fear,is the manner of all his benighted people,brought a slanderous accusation falsely.All the more reason was there that Ishould hear his last confession,and forgive him freely,as may Ialso be forgiven.""Thou liest in thy throat,"said D'Aulon."This is a brave man-at-arms,and a loyal.""Would that thou wert not beguiled,fair sir,for I have no pleasure in the sin of any man.But,if thou wilt believe him rather than me,even keep thy belief,and read this written confession of his falsehood.Of free will,with his own hand,my penitent hereby absolves me from all his slanders.As Holy Church enjoins,in the grace of repentance he also makes restitution of what he had stolen,namely,all my wealth in this world,the good name of a poor and lowly follower of the blessed Francis.Here is the scroll."With these words,uttered in a voice of sorrowing and humble honesty,the friar stretched out the written sheet of paper to D'Aulon.