The Man who saw the future
EDMOND HAMILTON
He was a straight figure, and was dressed in drab tunic and hose. His dark hair was long and straight, and his face held a dreaming strength, altogether different from the battered visages of the soldiers or the changeless mask of the Inquisitor. The latter regarded the prisoner for a moment, and then lifted one of the parchments from before him and read from it in a smooth, clear voice. ''Henri Lothiere, apothecary's assistant of Paris,'' he read, ''is charged in this year of our lord one thousand four hundred and forty-four with offending against God and the king by committing the crime of sorcery.'' The prisoner spoke for the first time, his voice low but steady. ''I am no sorcerer, sire.'' Jean de Marselait read calmly on from the parchment. ''It is stated by many witnesses that for long that part of Paris, called Nanley 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.