g that the wounds left by devils
resemble burns? Was it not because it was easier for the superior to
conceal a lancet with which to wound herself slightly, than to conceal
any instrument sufficiently heated to burn her? Why do you think the
left side was chosen rather than the forehead and nose, if not because
she could not give herself a wound in either of those places without
being seen by all the spectators? Why was the left side rather than the
right chosen, if it were not that it was easier for the superior to wound
herself with her right hand, which she habitually used, in the left side
than in the right? Why did she turn on her left side and arm and remain
so long in that position, if it were not to hide from the bystanders the
instrument with which she wounded herself? What do you think caused her
to groan, in spite of all her resolution, if it were not the pain of the
wound she gave herself? for the most courageous cannot repress a shudder
when the surgeon opens a vein. Why were her finger-tips stained with
blood, if it were not that the secreted blade was so small that the
fingers which held it could not escape being reddened by the blood it
caused to flow? How came it that the wounds were so superficial that
they barely went deeper than the cuticle, while devils are known to rend
and tear demoniacs when leaving them, if it were not that the superior
did not hate herself enough to inflict deep and dangerous wounds?"

Despite this logical protest from Grandier and the barefaced knavery of
the exorcist, M. de Laubardemont prepared a report of the expulsion of
the three devils, Asmodeus, Gresil, and Aman, from the body of sister
Jeanne des Anges, through three wounds below the region of the heart; a
report which was afterwards shamelessly used against Grandier, and of
which the memorandum still exists, a monument, not so much of credulity
and superstition, as of hatred and revenge. Pere Lactance, in order to
allay the suspicions which the pretended miracle had aroused among the
eye-wittnesses, asked Balaam, one of the four demons who still remained
in the superior's body, the following day, why Asmodeus and his two
companions had gone out against their promise, while the superior's face
and hands were hidden from the people.

"To lengthen the incredulity of certain people," answered Balaam.

As for Pere Tranquille, he published a little volume describing the whole
affair, in which, with the irresponsibl