te took pains to close every mouth from which the
truth might escape. Still, this avowal of a deathbed revelation to be
made to the Count de Saint-Geran and the deposition of the priest who had
administered the last sacraments formed a strong link in the chain of
evidence.

The judge of first instruction, collecting all the information he had
got, made a report the weight of which was overwhelming. The carters,
the nurse, the domestic servants, all gave accounts consistent with each
other; the route and the various adventures of the child were plainly
detailed, from its birth till its arrival at the village of Descoutoux.

Justice, thus tracing crime to its sources, had no option but to issue a
warrant for the arrest of the Marchioness de Bouilie; but it seems
probable that it was not served owing to the strenuous efforts of the
Count de Saint-Geran, who could not bring himself to ruin his sister,
seeing that her dishonour would have been reflected on him. The
marchioness hid her remorse in solitude, and appeared again no more. She
died shortly after, carrying the weight of her secret till she drew her
last breath.

The judge of Moulins at length pronounced sentence on the midwife, whom
he declared arraigned and convicted of having suppressed the child born
to the countess; for which he condemned her to be tortured and then
hanged. The matron lodged an appeal against this sentence, and the case
was referred to the Conciergerie.

No sooner had the count and countess seen the successive proofs of the
procedure, than tenderness and natural feelings accomplished the rest.
They no longer doubted that their page was their son; they stripped him
at once of his livery and gave him his rank and prerogatives, under the
title of the Count de la Palice.

Meanwhile, a private person named Sequeville informed the countess that
he had made a very important discovery; that a child had been baptized in
1642 at St. Jean-en-Greve, and that a woman named Marie Pigoreau had
taken a leading part in the affair. Thereupon inquiries were made, and
it was discovered that this child had been nursed in the village of
Torcy. The count obtained a warrant which enabled him to get evidence
before the judge of Torcy; nothing was left undone to elicit the whole
truth; he also obtained a warrant through which he obtained more
information, and published a monitory. The elder of the Quinet girls on
this told the Marquis de Canillac that the cou