the
incapacity of the doctors and the hatred of Grandier professed by the
apothecary; they could not, even at their own expense, obtain certified
copies of any of these petitions, although they had witnesses ready to
prove that Adam had once in his ignorance dispensed crocus metallorum
for crocus mantis--a mistake which had caused the death of the patient
for whom the prescription was made up. In short, so determined were the
conspirators that this time Grandier should be done to death, that they
had not even the decency to conceal the infamous methods by which they
had arranged to attain this result.

The examination was carried on with vigour. As one of the first
formalities would be the identification of the accused, Grandier
published a memorial in which he recalled the case of Saint-Anastasius
at the Council of Tyre, who had been accused of immorality by a fallen
woman whom he had never seen before. When this woman entered the hall of
justice in order to swear to her deposition, a priest named Timothy went
up to her and began to talk to her as if he were Anastasius; falling
into the trap, she answered as if she recognised him, and thus the
innocence of the saint was shown forth. Grandier therefore demanded that
two or three persons of his own height and complexion should be dressed
exactly like himself, and with him should be allowed to confront the
nuns. As he had never seen any of them, and was almost certain they had
never seen him, they would not be able, he felt sure, to point him
out with certainty, in spite of the allegations of undue intimacy with
themselves they brought against him. This demand showed such conscious
innocence that it was embarrassing to answer, so no notice was taken of
it.

Meanwhile the Bishop of Poitiers, who felt much elated at getting
the better of the Archbishop of Bordeaux, who of course was powerless
against an order issued by the cardinal-duke, took exception to Pere
l'Escaye and Pere Gaut, the exorcists appointed by his superior, and
named instead his own chaplain, who had been judge at Grandier's first
trial, and had passed sentence on him, and Pere Lactance, a Franciscan
monk. These two, making no secret of the side with which they
sympathised, put up on their arrival at Nicolas Moussant's, one of
Grandier's most bitter enemies; on the following day they went to the
superior's apartments and began their exorcisms. The first time the
superior opened her lips to reply, Pere Lac