companions sharpened their wits at the expense of the worthy monk, when
all at once, on a good road and without apparent cause, the carriage
overturned. Though no one was hurt, the accident appeared so strange to
the pleasure-seekers that it put an end to the jokes of even the boldest
among them. Pere Lactance himself appeared melancholy and preoccupied,
and that evening at supper refused to eat, repeating over and over
again--

"'It was wrong of me to deny Grandier the confessor he asked for; God is
punishing me, God is punishing me!'

"On the following morning the journey was resumed, but the evident
distress of mind under which Pere Lactance laboured had so damped the
spirits of the party that all their gaiety had disappeared. Suddenly,
just outside Fenet, where the road was in excellent condition and no
obstacle to their progress apparent, the carriage upset for the second
time. Although again no one was hurt, the travellers felt that there
was among them someone against whom God's anger was turned, and their
suspicions pointing to Pere Lactance, they went on their way, leaving
him behind, and feeling very uncomfortable at the thought that they had
spent two or three days in his society.

"Pere Lactance at last reached Notre-Dame des Andilliers; but however
numerous were the miracles there performed, the remission of the doom
pronounced by the martyr on Pere Lactance was not added to their number;
and at a quarter-past six on September 18th, exactly a month to the very
minute after Grandier's death, Pere Lactance expired in excruciating
agony."

Pere Tranquille's turn came four years later. The malady which attacked
him was so extraordinary that the physicians were quite at a loss,
and forced to declare their ignorance of any remedy. His shrieks and
blasphemies were so distinctly heard in the streets, that his brother
Franciscans, fearing the effect they would have on his after-reputation,
especially in the minds of those who had seen Grandier die with words of
prayer on his lips, spread abroad the report that the devils whom he had
expelled from the bodies of the nuns had entered into the body of the
exorcist. He died shrieking--

"My God! how I suffer! Not all the devils and all the damned together
endure what I endure!" His panegyrist, in whose book we find all the
horrible details of his death employed to much purpose to illustrate the
advantages of belonging to the true faith, remarks--

"Truly big gene