Urbain Grandier

Urbain Grandier, by Alexandre Dumas, is taken from the Eight Volume set Celebrated Crimes, 1910. The text says the exposure of the plot was most prejudicial to the prosperity of the Ursuline community, and that the nuns in losing their pupils lost their sole source of income. De Laubardemont draws from his pocket an order in duplicate, in case one copy should be lost, empowering the said Sieur de Laubardemont to arrest Grandier and his accomplices and imprison them in a secure place.

The text says Urbain’s life was so well ordered that it presented little which his enemies could use as a handle for their purpose, and that his only foible seemed to be a predilection for female society. The superior, who had not spoken a word since the bailiff’s declaration, remains dumb in spite of repeated exorcisms, and Barre sends for Sister Claire, saying that one devil would encourage the other. The bailiff enters a formal protest, insisting that the only result of a double exorcism would be to cause confusion.