an audience. At first he had
made fun of the exorcisms, for the story had been so badly concocted, and
the accusations were so glaringly improbable, that he had not felt the
least anxiety. But as the case went on it assumed such an important
aspect, and the hatred displayed by his enemies was so intense, that the
fate of the priest Gaufredi, referred to by Mignon, occurred to Urbain's
mind, and in order to be beforehand with his enemies he determined to
lodge a complaint against them. This complaint was founded on the fact
that Mignon had performed the rite of exorcism in the presence of the
civil lieutenant, the bailiff, and many other persons, and had caused the
nuns who were said to be possessed, in the hearing of all these people,
to name him, Urbain, as the author of their possession. This being a
falsehood and an attack upon his honour, he begged the bailiff, in whose
hands the conduct of the affair had been specially placed, to order the
nuns to be sequestered, apart from the rest of the sisterhood and from
each other, and then to have each separately examined. Should there
appear to be any evidence of possession, he hoped that the bailiff would
be pleased to appoint clerics of well-known rank and upright character to
perform whatever exorcisms were needful; such men having no bias against
him would be more impartial than Mignon and his adherents. He also
called upon the bailiff to have an exact report drawn up of everything
that took place at the exorcisms, in order that, if necessary, he as
petitioner might be able to lay it before anyone to whose judgment he
might appeal. The bailiff gave Grandier a statement of the conclusions
at which he had arrived, and told him that the exorcisms had been
performed that day by Barre, armed with the authority of the Bishop of
Poitiers himself. Being, as we have seen, a man of common sense and
entirely unprejudiced in the matter, the bailiff advised Grandier to lay
his complaint before his bishop; but unfortunately he was under the
authority of the Bishop of Poitiers, who was so prejudiced against him
that he had done everything in his power to induce the Archbishop of
Bordeaux to refuse to ratify the decision in favour of Grandier,
pronounced by the presidial court. Urbain could not hide from the
magistrate that he had nothing to hope for from this quarter, and it was
decided that he should wait and see what the morrow would bring forth,
before taking any further st