Black Magic Page #7

Let the memory live with you tonight.

Sleep, DeMontagne.

Sleep and dream of the rope

tightening about my mother's neck.

And you'll know what you must do.

The rope, DeMontagne,

the choking rope.

Your blanket.

Your blanket torn in strips

will do as well.

The rope.

That choking rope.

The choking... rope.

Your majesties, the minister of justice

and the crown prosecutor

request an audience.

Admit them.

Louis, you heard?

What's that, my turtle?

The minister of justice

and the prosecutor are here.

Oh, will you stop meddling

with that ridiculous clock?

I'm not meddling, dear,

I'm just trying to fix the cuckoo

so his poor little tail feathers

won't get hurt.

A lot more than my tail feathers

will get hurt

unless my good name is cleared.

- Your majesties.

- Your majesties.

Why, good morning, gentlemen.

You have news?

Yes, Madam.

Vicomte DeMontagne hanged himself

in his cell last night.

Without making any confession,

of course.

Exactly, Madam.

Our one hope of forcing the truth

from him died with him.

His accomplice, Chambord,

has escaped to England.

Now, the troublemakers are busy

telling the people

that DeMontagne died rather than

expose your part in this affair, Madam.

You see, Louis?

But I told the people in a proclamation

that the Queen

had no part in this affair.

I am afraid that many of them

don't believe you, your Majesty.

But that's impossible, Monsieur.

They must believe their king

or where are we?

Precisely, Louis.

Where are we?

It's beyond me, Marie.

You take care of it.

Then there is no hope of proving

this conspiracy against me?

There is still hope, your Majesty.

With your permission,

bring in the two women.

This is Madam Cagliostro.

We owe our thanks to the gypsy girl

for discovering her hidden

in an secret room

in Cagliostro's house.

Why are you informing

against him?

Because I love him

and he once loved me, Madam.

I see.

Why is she veiled?

For her and your protection, Majesty,

while driving through the streets,

as you will see.

Gypsy, lift her veil.

Incredible.

I might be looking in the mirror,

she's so like me.

It is evident that Cagliostro

made her impersonate

your Majesty in order

to deceive DeMontagne.

It's hard to believe that this girl

would stoop

to anything so infamous.

It seems, Madam, that the girl

is truly innocent at heart.

She is, your Majesty.

Cagliostro has a strange power

to make people act against their will.

My dear, all France

is in danger of an explosion

because of this conspiracy

in which you were used.

Would you save me and the throne

of France if you could?

Oh, gladly, your Majesty.

But would you be prepared

to appear in court

as a witness for the crown

and testify against Cagliostro?

Oh, yes, of course.

Then you have no love

for this man you married?

I loathe him, your Majesty.

Even our marriage

was no wish of mine.

But when he talks to me

and looks in my eyes,

my will leaves me and I'm helpless.

He will be in the courtroom.

Do you feel strong enough now

to face him and tell what he did?

Yes, I'm sure I can.

I must, not only for France,

but to save Gilbert DeRezel,

the man I love.

Cagliostro had not underrated

his popularity.

The people came swarming

out of the slums.

With Paris as the tinderbox

France teetered on the very edge

of a revolution.

It seemed that Cagliostro

had only to win the trial

and nothing could stop his seasoned,

supreme power over all of France.

And, my Lord's justices,

I propose to produce evidence

which I am convinced will satisfy

this court that a final conspiracy

has been hatched against the people

of France

and against the Queen's Majesty.

And so, by the powers vested in me,

by his most sacred Majesty,

King Louis the XVI,

I hereby charge these two wicked men

with treason

against the most exhorted person

of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France.

Monsieur President,

the prosecution is prepared

to present its evidence.

Let the prisoner come forward.

Chevalier DeRezel.

Monsieur, you have heard

the indictment.

Are you prepared to plead guilty

or do you wish to reserve your defense?

I have nothing to say, my Lord.

You understand what course we must take

if you persist in a policy of silence?

I understand, my Lord.

Chevalier has nothing to say.

Let the second prisoner

come forward.

The Count Cagliostro.

Count Cagliostro, we presume

you have nothing to say either.

Is that a statement or a question?

I merely point out that the Queen

wishes this case

concluded by nightfall.

It would pain me very much

to counter her Majesty's wishes.

But it would also pain me very much

to lose my head.

Levity is hardly in keeping

with the gravity of this case.

- Count Cagliostro.

- My Lords.

I intend to prove my innocence.

Have you counsel?

No, I should defend myself

and I will prove out of the mouths

of any witnesses the prosecutor

may produce,

that the Vicomte DeMontagne

purchased the necklace

now glittering in its case

before this court.

Not to bring her Majesty

into shame and infamy,

but to bring her into his arms.

That man must die.

Monsieur, you have forfeited

all her clemency from this court

unless you can indeed prove

your vicious words.

The prosecutor

may produce his witnesses.

My Lord, in view of the prisoner's

slanderous insinuations

and his boast that he can prove

his own innocence

out of our witnesses' mouths,

we propose to present only one.

The most important of all,

and to that end,

I call the Countess Cagliostro.

The Countess Cagliostro.

And now, Madam,

you are the Countess Cagliostro?

A wife of the prisoner Cagliostro?

I am, Monsieur.

Thank you, Madam.

Lift your veil.

Queen!

An amazing resemblance, my Lords.

The very image

of her Majesty, the Queen.

Is it not true

that the prisoner sitting there,

the Count Cagliostro, your own husband,

compelled you

to impersonate the sacred

person of the Queen?

Answer me!

Madam, the court is waiting.

We insist on the truth.

I know nothing, Monsieur.

The woman is lying!

This is an outrage!

Outrage, yes, but it's not the witness

who is lying.

- It's the prosecution.

- Silence!

It's not the witness

who stands here accused.

- Silence!

- Nor is it I.

Count Cagliostro,

you will resume your seat.

This witness is not only my wife,

she is my patient.

She is ill.

Dangerously ill.

- I ask for a recess.

- I object.

This is not much to ask for

from her husband and a doctor.

My Lord, the prisoner has a very strange

influence over this woman.

And just as strange

an influence over the mob.

My wife is ill!

I plead for a recess!

- I must object.

- I demand.

Count Cagliostro this is a court of law.

Court of law? Whose law?

Your law or the Queen's?

What is this mess, dear?

Justice or vengeance?

Is this a trial or an inquisition?

The court is recessed.

The court is recessed!

Clear the court.

Order. Get the mob into the streets.

She'll be quite herself in a moment.

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