riends.--I am, mother, your dutiful son and
servant,
"GRANDIER"

While Grandier had been in prison at Angers the cases of possession at
the convent had miraculously multiplied, for it was no longer only the
superior and Sister Claire who had fallen a prey to the evil spirits, but
also several other sisters, who were divided into three groups as
follows, and separated:--

The superior, with Sisters Louise des Anges and Anne de Sainte-Agnes,
were sent to the house of Sieur Delaville, advocate, legal adviser to the
sisterhood; Sisters Claire and Catherine de la Presentation were placed
in the house of Canon Maurat; Sisters Elisabeth de la Croix, Monique de
Sainte-Marthe, Jeanne du Sainte-Esprit, and Seraphique Archer were in a
third house.

A general supervision was undertaken by Memin's sister, the wife of
Moussant, who was thus closely connected with two of the greatest enemies
of the accused, and to her Bontems' wife told all that the superior
needed to know about Grandier. Such was the manner of the sequestration!

The choice of physicians was no less extraordinary. Instead of calling
in the most skilled practitioners of Angers, Tours, Poitiers, or Saumur,
all of them, except Daniel Roger of Loudun, came from the surrounding
villages, and were men of no education: one of them, indeed, had failed
to obtain either degree or licence, and had been obliged to leave Saumur
in consequence; another had been employed in a small shop to take goods
home, a position he had exchanged for the more lucrative one of quack.

There was just as little sense of fairness and propriety shown in the
choice of the apothecary and surgeon. The apothecary, whose name was
Adam, was Mignon's first cousin, and had been one of the witnesses for
the prosecution at Grandier's first trial; and as on that occasion--he
had libelled a young girl of Loudun, he had been sentenced by a decree of
Parliament to make a public apology. And yet, though his hatred of
Grandier in consequence of this humiliation was so well known,--perhaps
for that very reason, it was to him the duty of dispensing and
administering the prescriptions was entrusted, no one supervising the
work even so far as to see that the proper doses were given, or taking
note whether for sedatives he did not sometimes substitute stimulating
and exciting drugs, capable of producing real convulsions. The surgeon
Mannouri was still more unsuitable, for he was a nephew of Memin de
Silly, an