Rising with all the gravity he could assume, but still with visible agitation, one of the judges, named Houmain, judge-Advocate of Orleans, read a sort of indictment in a voice so low and hoarse that it was impossible to follow it.  He made himself heard only when what he had to say was intended to impose upon the minds of the people.  He divided the evidence into two classes:  one, the depositions of seventy-two witnesses; the other, more convincing, that resulting from “the exorcisms of the reverend fathers here present,” said he, crossing himself.

Fathers Lactantius, Barre, and Mignon bowed low, repeating the sacred sign.

“Yes, my lords,” said Houmain, addressing the judges, “this bouquet of white roses and this manuscript, signed with the blood of the magician, a counterpart of the contract he has made with Lucifer, and which he was obliged to carry about him in order to preserve his power, have been recognized and brought before you.  We read with horror these words written at the bottom of the parchment:  ’The original is in hell, in Lucifer’s private cabinet.’”

A roar of laughter, which seemed to come from stentorian lungs, was heard in the throng.  The president reddened, and made a sign to the archers, who in vain endeavored to discover the disturber.  The judge-Advocate continued: 

“The demons have been forced to declare their names by the mouths of their victims.  Their names and deeds are deposited upon this table.  They are called Astaroth, of the order of Seraphim; Eazas, Celsus, Acaos, Cedron, Asmodeus, of the order of Thrones; Alex, Zebulon, Cham, Uriel, and Achas, of the order of Principalities, and so on, for their number is infinite.  For their actions, who among us has not been a witness of them?”

A prolonged murmur arose from the gathering, but, upon some halberdiers advancing, all became silent.

“We have seen, with grief, the young and respectable Superior of the Ursulines tear her bosom with her own hands and grovel in the dust; we have seen the sisters, Agnes, Claire, and others, deviate from the modesty of their sex by impassioned gestures and unseemly laughter.  When impious men have inclined to doubt the presence of the demons, and we ourselves felt our convictions shaken, because they refused to answer to unknown questions in Greek or Arabic, the reverend fathers have, to establish our belief, deigned to explain to us that the malignity of evil spirits being extreme, it was not surprising that they should feign this ignorance in order that they might be less pressed with questions; and that in their answers they had committed various solecisms and other grammatical faults in order to bring contempt upon themselves, so that out of this disdain the holy doctors might leave them in quiet.  Their hatred is so inveterate that just before performing one of their miraculous feats, they suspended a rope from a beam in order to involve the reverend personages in a suspicion of fraud, whereas it has been deposed on oath by credible people that there never had been a cord in that place.