Suddenly, above Phoebus's head, Esmeralda sees an angry face. It is the priest who always follows her. In his hand is a knife and he pushes it into Phoebus's neck. Esmeralda's eyes close, and she falls to the floor. But just before everything goes black, she feels a terrible burning kiss on her mouth.
When Esmeralda wakes up, the little room is full of soldiers from the King's Guard. The window is open and the priest has disappeared. The soldiers carry Phoebus's bloody body down the stairs. One of them looks back at Esmeralda and says, "There's the witch who did this to Officer Phoebus."
Chapter 4     One Honest Heart
It is now May and nobody in the City of Thieves has seen Esmeralda and her little goat for more than a month. The gypsies are worried, and Pierre Gringoire is, too. One morning he is walking past the Tournelle, a prison for criminals, when he sees a large crowd at the gates.
"What's happening?" he asks a young man in the crowd.
"There's a woman in court today. They say she murdered an officer of the King's Guard. Some people say she's a witch."
Pierre Gringoire has always enjoyed listening to judges and lawyers, so he follows the crowd into the courtroom. He is pleased to see a large group of lawyers at a big table with piles of papers around them. Their chief is Monsieur Jacques Charmolue, the King's lawyer, and the main judge is Robert d'Estouteville.
"Who's the criminal?" Gringoire asks his neighbor.
"It's a woman, sir. You can't see her face from here."
"Silence!" shouts the officer of the court. "Madame Falourdel will now speak to the court."
"Judge, sir," the poor old woman begins,"I'm an honest woman. I own a small hotel—it's my house, also—on the Saint-Michel
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Suddenly, above Phoebus's head, Esmeralda sees an angry face.