The Scottish
archers did not dare to make any attempt to recapture their escaped
prisoner, but kept their line in front of the royal dais, while
Villon stood by the side of Katherine with drawn sword, an archangel
of insurrection, ready at any moment to fling the forces behind him
upon his adversaries. Yet the king remained as unmoved as if he had
been witnessing a puppet show. In his thin, even voice, he
commanded:
"Speak to her while the candle burns, not a second longer."
With one accord, Villon's adherents drew back and Villon was left
with Katherine alone in the open space.
Katherine whispered to him:
"Fran?ois, will you not take life at my hands?"
Villon answered her tenderly:
"Dear child, if that crowned Judas there had taken you at your word,
do you think I would have outlived you by the space of a second?"
She looked fixedly into his eyes.
"You are resolved?"
He smiled back at her.
"I am as stubborn as a mule and no pleadings will move me."
She looked over her shoulder with a shudder.
"Dearest, the candle flickers in the wind. There is a dagger in your
girdle. Slay me and yourself."
"You mean it?" he gasped, and she answered firmly:
"By God's Mother and God's Son.
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