not because
she could not give herself a wound in either of those places without
being seen by all the spectators? Why was the left side rather than
the right chosen, if it were not that it was easier for the superior
to wound herself with her right hand, which she habitually used, in the
left side than in the right? Why did she turn on her left side and arm
and remain so long in that position, if it were not to hide from the
bystanders the instrument with which she wounded herself? What do you
think caused her to groan, in spite of all her resolution, if it were
not the pain of the wound she gave herself? for the most courageous
cannot repress a shudder when the surgeon opens a vein. Why were her
finger-tips stained with blood, if it were not that the secreted blade
was so small that the fingers which held it could not escape being
reddened by the blood it caused to flow? How came it that the wounds
were so superficial that they barely went deeper than the cuticle, while
devils are known to rend and tear demoniacs when leaving them, if it
were not that the superior did not hate herself enough to inflict deep
and dangerous wounds?"

Despite this logical protest from Grandier and the barefaced knavery of
the exorcist, M. de Laubardemont prepared a report of the expulsion of
the three devils, Asmodeus, Gresil, and Aman, from the body of sister
Jeanne des Anges, through three wounds below the region of the heart;
a report which was afterwards shamelessly used against Grandier, and of
which the memorandum still exists, a monument, not so much of credulity
and superstition, as of hatred and revenge. Pere Lactance, in order to
allay the suspicions which the pretended miracle had aroused among the
eye-witnesses, asked Balaam, one of the four demons who still remained
in the superior's body, the following day, why Asmodeus and his two
companions had gone out against their promise, while the superior's face
and hands were hidden from the people.

"To lengthen the incredulity of certain people," answered Balaam.

As for Pere Tranquille, he published a little volume describing the
whole affair, in which, with the irresponsible frivolity of a true
Capuchin, he poked fun at those who could not swallow the miracles
wholesale.

"They had every reason to feel vexed," he said, "at the small courtesy
or civility shown by the demons to persons of their merit and station;
but if they had examined their consciences, perhaps they would h