y by some,
has been troubled by works of the devil. Ever and anon great claps of
thunder have been heard issuing from an open field there without visible
cause. They were evidently caused by a sorcerer of power since even
exorcists could not halt them.

"It is attested by many that the accused, Henri Lothiere, did in spite
of the known diabolical nature of the thing, spend much time at the
field in question. It is also attested that the said Henri Lothiere did
state that in his opinion the thunderclaps were not of diabolical
origin, and that if they were studied, their cause might be discovered.

"It being suspected from this that Henri Lothiere was himself the
sorcerer causing the thunderclaps, he was watched and on the third day
of June was seen to go in the early morning to the unholy spot with
certain instruments. There he was observed going through strange and
diabolical conjurations, when there came suddenly another thunderclap
and the said Henri Lothiere did vanish entirely from view in that
moment. This fact is attested beyond all doubt.

"The news spreading, many hundreds watched around the field during that
day. Upon that night before midnight, another thunderclap was heard and
the said Henri Lothiere was seen by these hundreds to appear at the
field's center as swiftly and as strangely as he had vanished. The
fear-stricken hundreds around the field heard him tell them how, by
diabolical power, he had gone for hundreds of years into the future, a
thing surely possible only to the devil and his minions, and heard him
tell other blasphemies before they seized him and brought him to the
Inquisitor of the King, praying that he be burned and his work of
sorcery thus halted.

"Therefore, Henri Lothiere, since you were seen to vanish and to
reappear as only the servants of the evil one might do, and were heard
by many to utter the blasphemies mentioned, I must adjudge you a
sorcerer with the penalty of death by fire. If anything there be that
you can advance in palliation of your black offense, however, you may
now do so before final sentence is passed upon you."

Jean de Marselait laid down the parchment, and raised his eyes to the
prisoner. The latter looked round him quickly for a moment, a
half-glimpsed panic for an instant in his eyes, then seemed to steady.

"Sire, I cannot change the sentence you will pass upon me," he said
quietly, "yet do I wish well to relate once, what happened to me and
what I saw.