e Devil; saw nothing but devils about her; and escaping from her
own house in spite of her daughter's watchfulness, entreated shelter
from the Cadieres. From that time the house became unbearable;
business could not be carried on. The elder Cadiere inveighed
furiously against Girard, crying, "He shall be served like Gauffridi:
he, too, shall be burnt!" And the Jacobin added, "Rather would we
waste the whole of our family estate!"

On the night of the 17th November, Cadiere screamed, and was like one
choking. They thought she was going to die. The eldest Cadiere, the
tradesman, lost his wits, and called out to his neighbours from the
window, "Help! the Devil is throttling my sister!" They came running
up almost in their shirts. The doctors and surgeons wanted to apply
the cupping-glasses to a case of what they called "suffocation of the
womb." While some were gone to fetch these, they succeeded in
unlocking her teeth and making her swallow a drop of brandy, which
brought her to herself. Meanwhile there also came to the girl some
doctors of the soul; first an old priest confessor to Cadiere's
mother, and then some parsons of Toulon. All this noise and shouting,
the arrival of the priests in full dress, the preparations for
exorcising, had brought everyone out into the street. The newcomers
kept asking what was the matter. "Cadiere has been bewitched by
Girard," was the continual reply. We may imagine the pity and the
wrath of the people.

Greatly alarmed, but anxious to cast the fear back on others, the
Jesuits did a very barbarous thing. They returned to the bishop,
ordered and insisted that Cadiere should be brought to trial; that the
attack should be made that very day; that justice should make an
unforeseen descent on this poor girl, as she lay rattling in the
throat after the last dreadful seizure.

Sabatier never left the bishop until the latter had called his judge,
his officer, the Vicar-general Larmedieu, and his prosecutor or
episcopal advocate, Esprit Reybaud, and commanded them to go to work
forthwith.

By the Canon Law this was impossible, illegal. A _preliminary inquiry
was needed_ into the facts, before the judicial business could begin.
There was another difficulty: the spiritual judge had no right to make
such an arrest save for _a rejection of the Sacrament_. The two
church-lawyers must have made these objections. But Sabatier would
hear of no excuses. If matters were allowed to drag in this cold le