The Brethren Read Online Free PDF

money was counted and locked away in his coffers, Fontenac, a man of uncommonly good looks, education and manners, told the lady, in the sweetest of tones, to be patient and that she should soon be reunited with her husband. But no sooner was Lagarrigue dragged before him, bloodied and chained, than Fontenac changed his expression and his tune. He threw the lady down before his servingmen telling them to take their pleasure of her if they were so inclined. And so they did—within plain sight of Lagarrigue, who struggled in his bonds like a madman.
    So that nothing should be lacking in the complete torture of the poor woman, he then ordered her husband strangled before her very eyes and threatened her with a similar fate. Still, he kept her alive for two or three days for the amusement of his soldiers. But as several among them expressed pity for her, since she had maintained a Christian composure and dignity throughout her abominable ordeal, Fontenac, as if to provide a lesson in cruelty, plunged his dagger into her heart, turning and twisting the blade, asking her with terrible blasphemies whether he gave her thus her pleasure. The two bodies were then thrown into the dry moat and burnt so that no trace of this horrible crime should survive. And Fontenac, watching from the ramparts above the acrid smoke rising towards him, remarked snidely that Lagarrigue and his lady should be happy that they were now finally reunited.
    Fontenac got wind of his henchman’s testimony and did not appear in Sarlat on that Monday at noon. Mespech was sold in broad daylight for 25,000 livres to Jean de Siorac and Jean de Sauveterre, a modest enough price for such a rich and extensive property, but not as low as Fontenac would have paid had he succeeded in his scheme to be the only bidder.
    We might think that finally justice was about to be rendered on Fontenac in the form of capital punishment. But the prisoner who accused him died, poisoned in his jail two days later, and his death rendered ever more fragile the testimony brought against the robber baron. The parliament of Bordeaux called Fontenac to testify, but he refused to quit his crenellated hideout. He wrote to the president of the parliament a most courteous and elegant letter of regret, sprinkled, naturally, with erudite Latin phrases.
    With profuse compliments, he regretted infinitely his inability to conform to their commandment, beset as he was with a grave malady which had him at death’s very door, praying for recovery. Moreover, he claimed to be the victim of a heinous plot in which the awful hand of heretics could be discerned from beginning to end. While it was true that the six men hanged at Sarlat had been in his service, these villains, driven by shameful promises, had quit his household the previous day, stealing blunderbusses and horses for their dark purposes. They had, he claimed, hoped to sign on in the service of some religionaries, who, hiding their real beliefs, wanted to settle in that province and contaminate it. But as soon as his faithless servants arrived at their rendezvous with these devious and bloodthirsty Huguenots they were treacherously assassinated, both to give the impression that Fontenac had attacked them and to make off with arms and horses rightfully his. As for the prisoner, even if one were able to accept his testimony, since it was unique and unsupported (
testis unus, testis nullus
—a single witness is of novalue), his tongue had obviously been bought by the Huguenots to besmirch the timeless honour of the Fontenac name. If Fontenac had been able to confront this miserable wretch, he surely would have recanted all his lies. But a very suspicious death (
fecit qui prodest
—he who profits from the crime must be its author) had intervened, ensuring his silence for the evident benefit of his accusers.
    In sum, Fontenac demanded that the president of the Bordeaux parliament issue an injunction to Messieurs Siorac and Sauveterre stipulating the