able to command them to produce within a
week miraculous proofs of the spells cast on the nuns by Urbain Grandier
and their wonderful deliverance therefrom; so that in future no one
would be able to doubt as to the reality of the possession. Thereupon
the magistrates drew up a report of all that had happened, and of what
Barre and Mignon had said. This was signed by all the officials present,
except the criminal lieutenant, who declared that, having perfect
confidence in the statements of the exorcists, he was anxious to do
nothing to increase the doubting spirit which was unhappily so prevalent
among the worldly.

The same day the bailiff secretly warned Urbain of the refusal of the
criminal lieutenant to join with the others in signing the report, and
almost at the same moment he learned that the cause of his adversaries
was strengthened by the adhesion of a certain Messire Rene Memin,
seigneur de Silly, and prefect of the town. This gentleman was held
in great esteem not only on account of his wealth and the many offices
which he filled, but above all on account of his powerful friends, among
whom was the cardinal-duke himself, to whom he had formerly been of use
when the cardinal was only a prior. The character of the conspiracy had
now become so alarming that Grandier felt it was time to oppose it
with all his strength. Recalling his conversation with the bailiff the
preceding day, during which he had advised him to lay his complaint
before the Bishop of Poitiers, he set out, accompanied by a priest of
Loudun, named Jean Buron, for the prelate's country house at Dissay.
The bishop, anticipating his visit, had already given his orders, and
Grandier was met by Dupuis, the intendant of the palace, who, in reply
to Grandier's request to see the bishop, told him that his lordship was
ill. Urbain next addressed himself to the bishop's chaplain, and begged
him to inform the prelate that his object in coming was to lay before
him the official reports which the magistrates had drawn up of the
events which had taken place at the Ursuline convent, and to lodge a
complaint as to the slanders and accusations of which he was the victim.
Grandier spoke so urgently that the chaplain could not refuse to carry
his message; he returned, however, in a few moments, and told Grandier,
in the presence of Dupuis, Buron, and a certain sieur Labrasse, that
the bishop advised him to take his case to the royal judges, and that
he earnestly h