t be the devil, and began to seek it out. It was not without great
difficulty that it was caught; for, terrified at the sight of so many
people and at the noise, the poor animal had sought refuge under
a canopy; but at last it was secured and carried to the superior's
bedside, where Barre began his exorcisms once more, covering the cat
with signs of the cross, and adjuring the devil to take his true shape.
Suddenly the 'touriere', (the woman who received the tradespeople,)
came forward, declaring the supposed devil to be only her cat, and she
immediately took possession of it, lest some harm should happen to it.

The gathering had been just about to separate, but Barry fearing that
the incident of the cat might throw a ridiculous light upon the evil
spirits, resolved to awake once more a salutary terror by announcing
that he was going to burn the flowers through which the second spell had
been made to work. Producing a bunch of white roses, already faded, he
ordered a lighted brazier to be brought. He then threw the flowers on
the glowing charcoal, and to the general astonishment they were consumed
without any visible effect: the heavens still smiled, no peal of thunder
was heard, and no unpleasant odour diffused itself through the room.
Barre feeling that the baldness of this act of destruction had had a
bad effect, predicted that the morrow would bring forth wondrous things;
that the chief devil would speak more distinctly than hitherto; that
he would leave the body of the superior, giving such clear signs of his
passage that no one would dare to doubt any longer that it was a case of
genuine possession. Thereupon the criminal lieutenant, Henri Herve,
who had been present during the exorcism, said they must seize upon
the moment of his exit to ask about Pivart, who was unknown at Loudun,
although everyone who lived there knew everybody else. Barre replied in
Latin, "Et hoc dicet epuellam nominabit" (He will not only tell about
him, but he will also name the young girl). The young girl whom the
devil was to name was, it may be recollected, she who had introduced
the flowers into the convent, and whose name the demon until now had
absolutely refused to give. On the strength of these promises everyone
went home to await the morrow with impatience.

CHAPTER IV

That evening Grandier asked the bailiff for an audience. At first he had
made fun of the exorcisms, for the story had been so badly concocted,
and the accu