should be accursed if I ever joined hands
with you. You have killed my son!"

"Her son!" exclaimed the man, hiding
his face. The lady, exhausted and stunned,
fell senseless on a sofa.

These events filled the whole province with
consternation. Jeanne did not recover her
reason; and the aged burgomaster, after
having in vain endeavoured to discover the
murderer of Philippe, died of grief. The
Dame de Beaufroid quitted the château in
which she had found shelter. Some said that
she had taken the veil. Mahuot Cocquiel had
rejoined the army of the Duke of Burgundy.
He did not remain there long; for, in the
year one thousand four hundred and forty-four,
he came to Valenciennes, and obtained
there, no one knows how, the rights of
citizenship.

One fête-day of that year one thousand
four hundred and forty-four, there was a
great concourse of people in Valenciennes.
The streets, the squares, and the hostelries
were crowded. Gaiety shone on every
countenance. Philippe the Good had come to visit
his faithful and loyal Valenciennois.

In a noted tavern, a few steps from the
church of Saint Pierre, the throng was
greater than elsewhere. Mahuot Cocquiel
entered it; and, observing a vacant table,
took his place there. He scrutinised with
curiosity the extraordinary bustle which
reigned throughout the place, when a bourgeois
named Jacotin Plouvier seated himself
beside him. Mahuot knew this man so
slightly, that he was surprised at the easy
assurance with which he seated himself at
table.

"Ah! it is you, Master Cocquiel?" said
Jacotin, seating himself, "I am very glad to
have met with you."

"Are you?" replied Mahuot, visibly
annoyed.

"I have something to say to you!" said
Jacotin.

"To me?"

"I have to tell you some news about one of
my relations, who lately died amongst the
nuns of Liege."

"What business is that of mine?"

"Important business, you will own," added
Plouvier; "when I have told you that her
name was Gertrude."

''Gertrude."

"I here hold her last letter—her last wish.
Do you desire to be informed of it?"

"It is no affair of mine," replied Mahuot,
rising as if to leave the room.

"On the contrary," said Jacotin, taking
Mahuot by the arm, and forcing him to sit
down again, "it is no other person's affair
than yours."

"What are the contents of the letter?"
said Mahuot, burning with anger.

"In the first place, she orders me to find
out a certain Mahuot Cocquiel. You are he!
Secondly, she orders me, as soon as I have
found him, to say to him; 'Mahuot, you
laid wait for a young man, who was just
entering life, in order to put him relentlessly
to death!'—That's what she says. Well, I,
Jacotin Plouvier, bourgeois of Valenciennes,
am resolved to avenge the death of that boy,
as well as of his bride, who died insane in
consequence of your crime; and I call upon
God to judge between us!"

"Never! " exclaimed Mahuot, with so
much vehemence, that all present turned
towards the two men.

"Never, do you say?" answered Jacotin:
"I will force you to it!" And then, addressing
the crowd which surrounded them, and
which filled the tavern, he added; "Flamands!
here is a man who is come to take
up his right of citizenship, and he is a
murderer. He killed one of my relations, Philippe
du Gardin, my cousin's son."

A long murmur of surprise went round the
assembly.

"Yes, my friends, this man is a murderer!
I offer to justify my accusation in single
combat."

"Bravo!" shouted a sergeant-at-arms, as
he entered the tavern with a handful of
soldiers who had been enrolled that
morning for the purpose of keeping order,
"Bravo! You shall both of you come along
with me;" and he led Mahuot and Jacotin
away.

By the law of trial by battle—a relic of
barbarism only abolished, here, in our own day
—the affair fell into the hands of the authorities.
Preparations were then made for the
duel, says the historian Le Glay d'Arleux
(whom we translate), in his Notice sur
Valenciennes; and, as it was a grave and imposing
ceremony, Philippe the Good, Duke of Burgundy
and Count of Hainault determined to
be present. On Tuesday, the twentieth of
March, one thousand four hundred and forty-
five, the Grand Place of Valenciennes was
converted into a list, around which an
immense multitude was congregated. At nine
o'clock the champions were led in, dressed
in basane, or black sheep's leather, of one
entire piece, closely sewed together from their
feet to their necks, with their heads naked and
shaven, their feet naked, and their nails cut.
They were accompanied by the Bretons, or
masters of exercises, who had been assigned
to each of them after their first confinement
in prison, and who carried their shields and
their sticks. These shields were formed of
willow wood covered with sheep's leather;
and were three feet long. They bore for arms
a cross gules on a field argent. The sticks
were of medlar-wood, three feet long, and
sharpened at each end.

Jacotin Plouvier, the appellant, entered
the first, made several signs of the cross,
and then seated himself on a chair covered
with black cloth at one end of the list,
on the side of the church of St. Pierre.
Mahuot came afterwards, knelt down, crossed