Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1881-11-17
HOW SHE TOLD A LIE.

HUN SHE TOLD LIE.
BY the Author of John Halifax, Gentleman Z"
The three travelers-kind Cousin
Eva, and her young charges, Cherry
and Ruth-were standing on the stair
case of the curious old hotel de
Bourgthroude, by the Place de la
Pucel!c, Rouen. The narrow, gloomy
little square looked still narrower and
gloomier in the drizzle of the dull No
vember day; and the ugly pump in
the middle Of it, with still uglier
statue on the top, marking the place
where Jeane dare was burnt, had been
sore disappointment to the children.
They had come, enthusiastic little pill
grims, to see the spot where their fa-
yorite heroine died; and Cousin Eva
could hardly get them to believe that
twas the spot-that the common look
ing market-place, where few ordinary
market people were passing and re-
passing, had actually been the scene of
that cruel deed-that from the very
identical windows of these identical
houses, brutal eyes had watched the
maid as she stood, the flames curling
round her, clasping the rude cross
which some charitable soul pushed to-
ward her hand,
do you remember" Cousin Eva
said, "how, at the last moment, she re-
tracted all the false confession of
heresy and witchcraft which torture
had wrung from her, and exclaimed,
Yes, my voices we're of God,' and
how, when she saw the flames zap
preaching her, she shut her eyes, called
out once, 'Jesusp dropped her head
upon her breast, and that was all; till
they raked up handful of charred
bones out of the embers and threw
them into the Seine?'
The children looked very grave. At
last they did realize the whole.
81 wonder what sort of day it was"
whispered Cherry; "dull and gloomy,
like to-day, or with bright, blue sun
ny sky? Perhaps she looked up at it
before the fire touched her And per-
haps he stood here-just where we
stand-the English soldier who cried
out, we have burnt saintl"
"And so she was, said Ruth, with a
culver passing over the eager little
face, "a real saint.
Out Cousin Eva" added Cherry,
'why did she ever o wn to being witch?
and how could she say her voices were
not true, when she believed they were
true? One way or the other she must
have told lie"
Miss Cherry was of an argumentative
rather than sentimental turn. She
thought good deal herself, and liked
to make Other people think, too, so as
to enable her to get at the bottom of
things. She could never overlook the
slightest break in chain of practical
reasoning; and if she had a contempt
in this world it was for weak person,
or person who told lie. This flaw,
even in her favorite Maid of Orleans,
otherwise so strong and brave, was too
much for Cherry to pass over
'Do YOU think" said cousin Eva,
chat it would be possible, under stress
of circumstances, to tell lie-to con-
fess to something one had never done?
Bishop Cranmer, for instance-have
you forgotten how he signed recanta-
ton, and then thrust into the flames,
that unworthy right hand? And Gal
leo, when forced by the inquisition to
declare the earth stood still, muttered
afterward, IL persi muove.' Eyes, yes,
continued she, zone never knows what
one may be driven to till the time
comes. The force Of torture is very
strong Once upon a time remem-
Der | told a lie"
"You told lie r echoed Cherry,
looking with amazement into the
bright, sweet, honest face-rosy cheek
ed, blue-eyed- little cousins them
selves had not more innocent eyes than
Eva's- as clear and round AS a baby's
But nobody eyer tortured you p
asked tender-hearted Ruth, clinging to
the tender hand which, indeed, she
snever went far away from, in these
alarming foreign parts"
mo, my little girl; the thumbscrews;
he rack, and the maiden, belong, luck
!! y, to that room in the tower where we
wv them once, and we are in the nine
enth and not the fifteenth century.
onll' even nowadays, good deal of
mora torture can be brought to bear
upon one occasionally, especially when
one Is only child, as was then. And
l was trled sharply enough to make
me remember II even now, and feel
quite sure that ifI had been Jeanne
d'Arc, should very likely have done
exactly as she did. Also, i learnt what
have tried to put in practice ever since,
that nothing makes people liars like
disbelieving them"
Ruth gave little tender pressure to
the hand she held, while Cherry said
proudly;
"You never disbelieve us, and YOU
never need to. But tell US, Cousin
Eva, about the lie you told. Was il
denying something you had done, or
owning to sometai ne YOU were quiet