Chapter 4
The Trial
Early in the morning, and almost before she was awake, an officer came to Mary’s cell to bring her out 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 she had felt because of the dress given to Mary, and in her anxiety to deprive Mary of her mistress’ favour, Juliette had told one or two people that she had seen Mary take the ring.
As a result 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.✿