a hashing up of the two great
trials at Aix and Loudun. They read and followed the printed
narratives only. No wit, no invention, was shown by either.

Anne, the accuser, and her devil Leviathan, were backed by the
Penitentiary of Evreux, one of the chief actors in the Loudun affair.
By his advice, the Bishop of Evreux gave orders to disinter the body
of Picart, so that the devils might leave the convent when Picart
himself was taken away from the neighbourhood. Madeline was condemned,
without a hearing, to be disgraced, to have her body examined for the
marks of the Devil. They tore off her veil and gown, and made her the
wretched sport of a vile curiosity, that would have pierced her till
she bled again, in order to win the right of sending her to the stake.
Leaving to no one else the care of a scrutiny which was in itself a
torture, these virgins acting as matrons, ascertained if she was with
child or no, shaved all her body, and dug their needles into her
quivering flesh, to find out the insensible spots that betrayed the
mark of the Devil. At every dig they discovered signs of pain: if they
had not the luck to prove her a Witch, at any rate, they could revel
in her tears and cries.

* * * * *

But Sister Anne was not satisfied, until, on the mere word of her own
devil, Madeline, though acquitted by the results of this examination,
was condemned for the rest of her life to an _In pace_. It was said
that the convent would be quieted by her departure; but such was not
the case. The Devil was more violent than ever; some twenty nuns began
to cry out, to prophesy, to beat themselves.

Such a sight drew thither a curious crowd from Rouen, and even from
Paris. Yvelin, a young Parisian surgeon, who had already seen the
farce at Loudun, came to see that of Louviers. He brought with him a
very clear-headed magistrate, the Commissioner of Taxes at Rouen. They
devoted unwearying attention to the matter, settled themselves at
Louviers, and carried on their researches for seventeen days.

From the first day they saw into the plot. A conversation they had had
with the Penitentiary of Evreux on their entrance into the town, was
repeated back to them by Sister Anne's demon, as if it had been a
revelation. The scenic arrangements were very bewitching. The shades
of night, the torches, the flickering and smoking lights, produced
effects which had not been seen at Loudun. The rest of the process wa