The Hunchback of Notre-Dame: Novel Summary: Book VIII Chapter 2

Summary
Esmeralda is led to a circular chamber lighted by the infernal glow of a great fire in which various instruments of torture are being heated. On the floor is a leather mattress with straps and other tools of the trade. In addition to Maitre Jacques and other priests of the court, Pierrat Torterue, the sworn torturer and his assistants are waiting. Esmeralda's courage begins to fail but she repeats her denial. The attorney orders her foot placed in the brodequin, a wooden used to crush feet. Esmeralda again denies her guilt but at the first turn of the screw she cries out that she will confess. The attorney then makes her confess to a series of witchcraft charges including conspiring to murder Phoebus. She meekly assents. When the torturer removes the brodequin he remarks that despite the pain the device caused no permanent damage this time.