Eleven: Of the Market on Rue Mont-Fetard

After Thomas’s confessions, Jehan must shop the rue Mont-Fetard market. Delphine insists on joining, so Thomas, Père Matthieu, Jehan, and Annette go together through plague-quiet streets into the market’s fragile bustle. Amid hawkers and foreign traders, Delphine revels in the noise and color, while Annette buys pork, vegetables, and nuts.

Delphine stops at a relic cart. The smiling seller offers dubious wonders, culminating in a Greek-inscribed spearhead he hints is the Holy Lance. Père Matthieu wavers, but Thomas rejects the ruse. A small crowd surges, calls the seller a Jew, and presses a sergent to act. Despite the man’s claim to be a Christian convert, a licensed pardoner, Pierre Auteuil, and others push for punishment. The sergent pillories the seller, leaving him beside a spice adulterator already in stocks.

Back at Jehan’s, Delphine is distracted at dinner, worrying about the pilloried man. She bolts for the market; Thomas pursues through darkening, emptied streets. At the pillory, the seller recognizes Delphine and asks if it is time; she answers, “Not yet.” Distant knocking starts. Thomas tries to drag her away, tearing her shirt and snapping the ribbon that holds her key.

Delphine begs Thomas to try the key on the lock. Reluctantly, he turns it; the lock opens and the seller stands free. As knocking and a distant scream draw nearer, Delphine also releases the spice merchant, who limps into the night. The relic seller, whose cart has been looted, reveals the true object: a small hinged wooden tube on a cord, taken from under his shirt, and gives it to Delphine. She kisses him.

Thomas lifts Delphine and runs as the unseen knocking spreads through nearby streets. The seller calls, “When?” but Delphine does not answer. They flee into the dangerous Paris night with the secret relic hanging at Delphine’s neck.