JOAN DARC (remains silent for a moment and reflects; by degrees she regains her self-assurance; she answers in a firm voice)--"I shall not take that pledge. I will not promise not to seek to flee, if the opportunity offers."
RAOUL SAUVAGE (threateningly)--"Your chains will then be doubled, to keep you from escaping."
JOAN DARC--"It is allowed to all prisoners to escape from their prison."
BISHOP CAUCHON (with severity, after consulting in a low voice with several of the judges sitting near him)--"The rebellious words of the said Joan having been heard, we shall particularly commit her to the keeping of the noble John Le Gris, a guardsman of our Sire, the King of England and France, and join to John Le Gris the equerries Berwick and Talbot, English men-at-arms. All the three are hereby charged to keep the prisoner, and we recommend to them not to allow anyone to approach her or to speak with her without our permission. (Addressing himself to the tribunal) Those of our very dear brothers who have any question to put to the accused, are now free to do so."
A JUDGE--"Joan, do you swear to tell the whole truth? I await your answer."
JOAN DARC (with dignity)--"I have sworn; that is enough. I never lie."
THE SAME JUDGE--"Did you in your infancy learn to work like the other girls of the fields?"
JOAN DARC--"My mother taught me to sew and to spin, and also the labors of the field."
ANOTHER JUDGE--"Did you have a confessor?"
JOAN DARC--"Yes, the curate of our parish is my confessor and spiritual guide."
THE SAME JUDGE--"Did you confess your revelations to your curate or to any other man of the church?"
JOAN DARC--"No, I said nothing upon that."
The priests exchange meaning glances and a few words in a low voice.
THE SAME JUDGE--"Why that secrecy towards your curate?"
JOAN DARC--"Had I spoken about my apparitions my father and mother would have opposed my undertaking."
ANOTHER JUDGE--"Do you think you committed a sin in leaving your father and your mother, contrary to the precept of the Scriptures--'Thou shalt honor thy father and mother'?"
JOAN DARC--"I never disobeyed them before I left them. But I wrote to them; they pardoned me."
THE SAME JUDGE--"Accordingly, you think you can violate without sin the commandments of the church?"