would be of great benefit to the holy
Catholic faith, for they had got the demons so thoroughly into their
power that they had been 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