A hush fell over the Grand Chambre as the Minister of State entered. "The Court will rise," called the usher in a loud voice. "The case of The Crown vs Marquis Oeufs Brouilles will now be heard, His Excellency le Duc Axel von Fersen, His Majesty's Minister of State, presiding."
The Minister took his place in the seat of judgment and asked the Commissioner if he was ready to proceed. "I am, Your Excellency," he answered. "Then please be so kind as to do so," was the retort. The Commissioner read the charges without further preamble: "Oeufs Brouilles, you are charged on three separate counts of the most heinous crime of treason in that you have conspired to defraud His Majesty's treasury, conspired with a foreign power to pervert the course of French Foreign Policy and, finally, have had a valued servant of the Crown, to wit Lt. Colonel le Chevalier Jean-Luc de Frost who was, at the time of his death, an operative in good standing with the Commission of Public Safety, most brutally tortured and murdered at your foul command. The prosecution will prove each of these charges in turn. "I call as the first witness for the prosecution His Grace le Duc de l'Aubergine. " The Duc was sworn in and stated his name for the court record, whereupon the Commissioner continued. "Your Grace, in May of last year what appointment did you hold?" "I had the honour to be serving His Majesty in the office of Minister of Justice, My Lord." "At that time, the Defendant had just been appointed as Minister of Finance and the Marine by Duc Senior. Did you receive any letters from the Defendant in regard to this?" "I did receive one letter, My Lord." The Commissioner shows the Duc a parchment. "Is this the letter?" "It is, My Lord." "Perhaps Your Grace would be kind enough to read this to the Court?" "To: BBG Duc Robert de l'Aubergine, KM, MOJ From: LtC Marquis Oeufs Brouilles, DG, MoFM Your Grace, I hope this letter finds you in good health. I have recently been placed in a position to acquire significant profit. I would like to offer you a partnership in this endeavor. Your role will only require you to disregard any unfounded reports of wrong doing on my part. Your share of the profits can exceed 1000 Crowns each month. Please let me know if you are interested. Yours, Oeufs Brouilles" "May it please Your Excellency," said the Commissioner to the Minister of State "The Prosecution wishes to submit this letter, written in the Defendant's own hand, as evidence, to be denoted Exhibit A." Turning back to the witness, the Commissioner continued the questioning. "What was your reaction upon receiving this letter, Your Grace?" "I was both appalled that a newly appointed Minister could make it so plain that, far from wishing to serve His Majesty, his primary motivation was to line his own pockets at His Majesty's expense and also I was mortally affronted that he could imagine myself to take my duties as lightly as he did his own." "What action did you take in light of this, Your Grace?" "I immediately contacted Duc Senior who, as Minister of State, had just appointed the Defendant, and revealed all details of the base action which the Defendant had just taken." "And what was the result of this?" "For some considerable time I heard nothing whatsoever. Then Duc Senior finally suggested that I draw the matter to the attention of Marquis de Sevigny, who was still then serving as Commissioner of Public Safety, and send the letter to him. This is exactly what I did." "And what were the results of this?" "Before he was able to take any action, His Majesty dismissed le Marquis de Sevigny as Commissioner. It was September before I learned that Duc Senior was not going to take any action personally, at which point Marquis de Sevigny had already gone abroad on a mission for His Majesty." "Thank you, Your Grace, that will be all. The Prosecution now calls Marquis Alain de Sevigny, His Majesty's Minister of Supply." The Marquis took the stand and was duly sworn in. "Marquis de Sevigny, le Duc de l'Aubergine has testified that he provided you with a letter written by the Defendant exhorting him to turn a blind eye to any evidence of embezzlement from the Royal Treasury. " "I am aware of no such letter, My Lord" "Perhaps the Court Usher would be good enough to show My Lord Marquis exhibit A?" The Marquis read the letter, but his expression did not change. "It appears that these revelations come as no surprise to you, My Lord Marquis?" said the Commissioner. "To be brutally frank, My Lord, no they do not, since I had already had a demonstration of the treacherous nature of the Defendant. Prior to le Duc de l'Aubergine sending this package to the Commission, the Defendant had urged me to arrest his former commanding officer in connection with the two duelling deaths which had occurred a short time before (events which were later proven to have nothing at all to do with him). Upon seeing the Duc de l'Aubergine's information I can only surmise that the Defendant's motive in bringing forward these baseless accusations was to ensure that his former commanding officer was not in a position to enquire too closely into his own planned treacheries at the Ministry of Finance and the Marine." "Perhaps you would be good enough to tell us why no case was brought against the Defendant as a result of this information?" the Commissioner continued. "The reason that no case was ever brought, My Lord, is that before I could be acquainted with this information I was dismissed as Commissioner at the direct behest of Duc Senior, who had specifically brought to His Majesty's attention the fact that in my first six months as Commissioner I had only successfully prosecuted infringements of the Duelling Edicts. Until that time I had, of course, been led to believe that such prosecutions would be sufficient to maintain my tenure of the post. If I might be so bold, Commissioner, why did you fail to launch a prosecution when this evidence fell into your own hands?" "It has only just come into my hands, My Lord Marquis, since it was, unfortunately, misfiled upon receipt at the Commission. Could you tell the court who would have been responsible for the filing at the time?" "The Chief Clerk at the Commission was, at that time, one Richard d'Astardley, My Lord." "Do you know the current whereabouts of this gentleman?" "He is, I believe, currently serving on the staff of the Governor of Hispaniola." "As an experienced Commissioner yourself, what is your view of the reasons behind these events?" the Commissioner asked. "This damning letter, written in his own hand, proves conclusively that the Defendant, in his very first month as Minister of Finance and the Marine, began conspiring to embezzle Treasury funds - an activity which is treasonous by its very nature. That he is guilty of conspiring with le Duc de l'Aubergine is self-evident - though the subsequent actions of His Grace allow no room for blame on His Grace's part, of course. The fact that the Defendant was appointed to this post by Duc Senior, however, together with the facts that it was Duc Senior's actions which led to my dismissal and that the gentleman responsible for misfiling this evidence now serves on his personal staff, provide compelling evidence that Duc Senior himself was a party to this conspiracy." "Thank you, My Lord Marquis. That will be all. The Prosecution has proven the first charge, conspiracy to defraud His Majesty's treasury, most conclusively I feel." The Commissioner took a sip from a glass of water before continuing. Turning to the Minister of State, he said "If it please Your Grace, I will be calling no further witnesses. I myself will serve as the main witness where the latter two charges are concerned, in addition to which I will be referring to the Court Records of the recent trial of the convicted traitor Otto Chabot." Turning back to the Court at large, he continued "The Prosecution will now prove the second charge, Conspiracy with a foreign power to pervert the course of French Foreign Policy. As was revealed in the course of the recent trial of Otto Chabot, for some considerable time Chabot and person or persons unknown had been plotting to distract French Power sufficiently to allow the Swedish conquest of northern Germany. (This plot has generally become known as the 'Fromage' conspiracy due to the codewords used in the intercepted correspondence). I would like to draw the attention of the Court to some pertinent sections from the court records of this trial - in the first instance to the evidence given by Jean de Lacey, Captain of the King's Escort. I will quote from the section where Captain de Lacey details a conversation between 'Piotor', a Dutch merchant working as an Agent for the King of Sweden, and the convicted traitor Chabot: <<< "The talk was inconsequential at first, but soon turned to money, whereupon the Minister lost his temper and began to shout at his guest, demanding his 'fee for the information which allowed the plan to go ahead'. The visitor then spoke the following words, which I made sure to remember given their content:" 'Your stupid delivery system with all those cheesy names was compromised for months before we found out! That's why you're having to use that bumpkin Maquereau, remember? My Lord Marquis is not yet satisfied that this current plot will amount to anything more! That Commission lackey is still at large, when you swore his head would be on the block months ago! Your money will be forthcoming as soon as the desired result is achieved, my dear Marquis - and if that doesn't happen soon, more direct action will have to be taken.' ">>> "I would like to highlight some of the phrases above: " 'My Lord Marquis is not yet satisfied that this current plot will amount to anything more! ' "This mysterious Marquis was obviously the head of the conspiracy. " 'That Commission lackey' we have reason to believe refers to Jean-Luc de Frost, a longstanding operative of the Commission, and the 'more direct action will have to be taken' we believe refers to his subsequent kidnap. "Following the information gleaned by Captain de Lacey, Maquereau was apprehended and found to have the following message on his person, the last 'Fromage Conspiracy' message (from Chabot to the King of Sweden) to be intercepted. It reads as follows: <<< Vodcheese to Västerbotten Apologies for my long silence. I regret that the affairs of Fromage do not fare well. Cheddar's departure has delayed our plans considerably and our previous courier route was severely compromised. It has taken time put an alternative in place. As you will be aware, with both Maconnais and Valencay vying for the Ministry of State it was futile to put forward my nomination with only the secret support of Bouton d'Oc behind me. Although both of us are urging Queso as next year's target at every government meeting, both Maconnais and Valencay are adamant that the attention of Fromage be drawn to the north and Lou Pevre finds their combined arguments most persuasive. Sufficient funds to purchase some further big cheeses may help considerably here. Finally, I must protest at your giving overall control of this operation to Bouton d'Oc. You must be aware that he entered your employ only after his plans to make an illicit fortune in Fromage came to naught? I fail to see how he can be expected to be more effective than I have been myself. >>> "The Maconnais and Valencay mentioned above are thought to be the Ducs de Mylcandonai and Von Fersen respectively, whilst 'Lou Pevre' is thought to refer to His Majesty. 'Fromage' is thought to be a codeword for France and 'Queso' a codeword for Spain. The identity of 'Cheddar' is yet to be conclusively proven. For the purposes of this trial, however, our interest lies in the identity of 'Bouton d'Oc'. "The above makes it plain that both Chabot and 'Bouton d'Oc' were urging Spain as the target of choice for our armies this year - and as Your Excellency will be aware, apart from Chabot himself, only the Defendant has been urging this at the monthly government meetings. It also states that 'Bouton d'Oc' entered the King of Sweden's employ "only after his plans to make an illicit fortune in Fromage came to naught." As we have seen above, the Defendant's attempts to embroil le Duc de l'Aubergine in his conspiracy to defraud the Royal Treasury indeed came to naught. "The most conclusive proof was found at the Defendant's home during the search which preceded his arrest, however. Various letters addressed to 'Bouton d'Oc' were found in a hidden compartment in the Defendant's desk. (Your Excellency already has these in his possession). In addition, the agent 'Piotor' was found to be staying as the Defendant's guest - he later died of wounds received whilst resisting arrest. Finally, a large sum of money in newly minted Swedish Crowns was found at the Defendant's home - obviously being remuneration for his despicable treasons and money with which to bribe the 'big cheeses' mentioned above. There can be no possible doubt that the Defendant is indeed the 'Bouton d'Oc' mentioned in the 'Fromage Conspiracy' correspondence and that, as such, he served as the head of this heinous conspiracy. "Where the final charge, the torture and murder of Jean-Luc de Frost, is concerned I must once again refer to the transcript of the recent Chabot trial, specifically the end of my summing up: <<< Here I must rest my case, but in doing so I would like to draw the attention of the Court to one outstanding fact. Chevalier de Frost disappeared last month and has yet to be located. We fear that this is due to the 'more direct action' which Marquis Chabot's nocturnal visitor was heard to advocate. The Marquis has been questioned repeatedly regarding this, but refuses to reveal either the whereabouts of Chevalier de Frost or the identity of his confederates in treason. >>> "Although Chabot refused to reveal the identity of his confederates to the very end (and His Majesty forbade him being put to the wrack) a lead was found which suggested that Chevalier de Frost had been kidnapped from outside Bothwells and taken to a mansion in the Louvre Quarter. When the letter which the Defendant had sent to le Duc de l'Aubergine was discovered once more (having been 'misfiled' in the Commission records at the Bastille) I deemed this sufficient evidence to warrant a search of the Defendant's home on the Rue Neuve des Petits Champs. In the course of this search, Chevalier de Frost was located in a deep cellar, undergoing interrogation at the hands of Piotor van Kneeckle. Chevalier de Frost had been horribly tortured - indeed, he was being wracked when found - and, unfortunately, expired of his many wounds before a doctor could be summoned. "It is inconceivable that the Defendant could have been unaware of the fact that Chevalier de Frost was an unwilling guest at his home. Indeed, the evidence that the Chevalier was abducted, tortured and, ultimately killed at the Defendant's direct command is most compelling. "To sum up, the Prosecution maintains that after his conspiracy to defraud the Royal Treasury came to naught, the Defendant became a paid lackey of the King of Sweden and came to head the infamous Fromage Conspiracy. When the attempt to have Chevalier de Frost disgraced by laying the blame for the egg-throwing incident at his door failed, the Defendant arranged for his subsequent kidnap and murder. The proof of his guilt on all of these charges is incontrovertible and, when found guilty, we would ask that the maximum sentence for wanton traitors be applied - a public breaking on the wheel in the Place du Grève. Although it is traditional in such circumstances for the Commissioner to assume the portfolio of a convicted minister, in this case I would request that Your Excellency choose a replacement whose probity, unlike that of the Defendant, is beyond question - since my duties at the Commission and the Foreign Ministry will leave me insufficient leisure to oversee matters at the Ministry of Finance and the Marine also. "May it please Your Excellency, the Prosecution rests." "Thank you, Commissioner," said the Minister of State. "We will now hear what the Defendant has to say in defence of these serious charges."
