As Joan moved feebly away, dragging her chains, I felt stunned and dazed,
and kept saying to myself, "Such a little while ago she said the saving
word and could have gone free; and now, there she goes to her death; yes,
it is to her death, I know it, I feel it. They will double the guards;
they will never let any come near her now between this and her
condemnation, lest she get a hint and speak that word again. This is the
bitterest day that has come to me in all this miserable time."



13 The Third Trial Fails

SO THE SECOND trial in the prison was over. Over, and no definite result.
The character of it I have described to you. It was baser in one
particular than the previous one; for this time the charges had not been
communicated to Joan, therefore she had been obliged to fight in the
dark.

There was no opportunity to do any thinking beforehand; there was no
foreseeing what traps might be set, and no way to prepare for them. Truly
it was a shabby advantage to take of a girl situated as this one was. One
day, during the course of it, an able lawyer of Normandy, Maetre Lohier,
happened to be in Rouen, and I will give you his opinion of that trial,
so that you may see that I have been honest with you, and that my
partisanship has not made me deceive you as to its unfair and illegal
character. Cauchon showed Lohier the proces and asked his opinion about
the trial. Now this was the opinion which he gave to Cauchon. He said
that the whole thing was null and void; for these reasons: 1, because the
trial was secret, and full freedom of speech and action on the part of