THE TRIAL.
Early in the morning, and almost before she was awake, an officer came
to Mary's cell to bring her forth for trial. At the sight of the room
in which the court was held she trembled, and her fears returned.
Sitting in a large scarlet chair was the judge. Before him a clerk
stood at an enormous table covered with papers.
A number of questions were put to Mary, to all of which she answered
truthfully. She found it impossible to keep back her tears, but
persisted in declaring her innocence of the crime.
"It is useless to try to make me believe this," said the judge. "You
were the only one to enter the room where the ring was. No one but you
could have taken it. You had better acknowledge the truth."
"It is the truth I speak now," replied Mary. "I cannot speak anything
else. I have not seen the ring, indeed I have not."
"The ring was seen in your hands," continued the judge; "have you
anything to say now?"
Mary declared that this was impossible. Turning to his side, the judge
rang a little bell, and Amelia's maid, Juliette, was brought in. In the
fit of jealousy which she had felt because of the dress given to Mary,
and in her anxiety to deprive Mary of her mistress's favour, Juliette
had said to one or two people that she had seen Mary take the ring. In
consequence of this statement Juliette was now summoned as a witness,
and, fearful to be caught in a lie, she determined to maintain it even
in a court of justice. When the judge warned her to declare the truth
before God, she felt her heart beat quickly and her knees tremble; but
this wicked girl obeyed neither the voice of the judge nor the voice of
her own conscience. "If," said she to herself, "I acknowledge now that
I told a lie, then I shall be driven away. Perhaps I may even be
imprisoned." Determined to carry out her part, she turned to Mary and
said insultingly--
"You have the ring; I saw you with it."
Mary heard this false charge with horror, but she did not allow passion
to get the upper hand. Her only reply was, and her tears almost choked
her while she said it--
"It is not true. You did not see me with the ring. How can you tell so
terrible a falsehood for the sake of ruining me, when I never have
injured you?"
At the sight of Mary, Juliette's feelings of hatred and jealousy
revived. She repeated the falsehood, with new circumstances and
details, after which she was dismissed by the judge.
"Mary, you are convicted," said he. "All the circumstances are against
you. The chamber-maid of the young Countess saw the ring in your hand.
Tell me now, what you have done with it?"
In vain Mary protested her innocence. According to the cruel custom of
those days, the judge now sent her to be whipped until the blood came,
in the effort to make her confess her guilt. The punishment made poor
Mary scream with pain, but she continued to declare her innocence.
Suffering great agony, she was finally thrown into her prison again.
Her bed of straw was hard, her wounds gave her great pain, and half the
night she spent without sleeping, groaning and praying to God.
The next day she was brought again before the court. The severity of
the law had failed to wring any confession from her. The judge now
tried to make her confess by adopting a mild tone, and by holding out
promises.
"You have incurred the penalty of death," said he, "but if you confess
where the ring is, nothing will be done to you. Think well before you
answer, for your choice is between life and death."
Still Mary protested that she had nothing more to confess. The judge
now tried to move her by her love for her father.
"If you persist in concealing the truth," he said, "if you are careless
of your own life, you will at least spare that of your old father.
Would you see his head, whitened by age, cut off by the sword of
justice? Who but he could have induced you to tell a falsehood so
obstinately? Are you ignorant that his life as well as yours is at
stake?"
This was a new thought to Mary, and, terrified at the threat, she
nearly fainted.
"Confess," said the judge, "that you have taken the ring. A single
word--say yes, and your life and that of your father are saved."
It was a great temptation and a terrible trial to Mary. Satan suggested
that she should say, "I took the ring, but I lost it on the road."
"No," she thought again, "no, I must stick to the truth. Let it cost
what it will, not even to save my own or my father's life will I depart
from the truth. I will obey God rather than man, and trust Him for the
rest."
In a clear but tremulous voice she then answered--
"If I say I had the ring, it would be a lie; and, though this falsehood
would save my life, I cannot utter it. But," she entreated, "if life is
demanded, spare at least the white hairs of my loved father. I should
be glad to shed my blood for him."
Her words touched the hearts of all the people in the court. Even the
judge, for all his severity, was deeply moved; but he remained silent,
and, giving the signal, Mary was taken back to prison.