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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 count

was searching at a distance for things very near him。  The truth

shone out with great lustre through these new facts which gushed from

all this fresh information。  The child; exhibited in the presence of

a legal commissary to the nurses and witnesses of Torcy; was

identified; as much by the scars left by the midwife's nails on his

head; as by his fair hair and blue eyes。  This ineffaceable vestige

of the woman's cruelty was the principal proof; the witnesses

testified that la Pigoreau; when she visited this child with a man

who appeared to be of condition; always asserted that he was the son

of a great nobleman who had been entrusted to her care; and that she

hoped he would make her fortune and that of those who had reared him。



The child's godfather; Paul Marmiou; a common labourer; the grocer

Raguenet; who had charge of the two thousand livres; the servant of

la Pigoreau; who had heard her say that the count was obliged to take

this child; the witnesses who proved that la Pigoreau had told them

that the child was too well born to wear a page's livery; all

furnished convincing proofs; but others were forthcoming。



It was at la Pigoreau's that the Marquis de Saint…Maixent; living

then at the hotel de Saint…Geran; went to see the child; kept in her

house as if it were hers; Prudent Berger; the marquis's page;

perfectly well remembered la Pigoreau; and also the child; whom he

had seen at her house and whose history the marquis had related to

him。  Finally; many other witnesses heard in the course of the case;

both before the three chambers of nobles; clergy; and the tiers etat;

and before the judges of Torcy; Cusset; and other local magistrates;

made the facts so clear and conclusive in favour of the legitimacy of

the young count; that it was impossible to avoid impeaching the

guilty parties。  The count ordered the summons in person of la

Pigoreau; who had not been compromised in the original preliminary

proceedings。  This drastic measure threw the intriguing woman on her

beam ends; but she strove hard to right herself。



The widowed Duchess de Ventadour; daughter by her mother's second

marriage of the Countess dowager of Saint…Geran; and half…sister of

the count; and the Countess de Lude; daughter of the Marchioness de

Bouille; from whom the young count carried away the Saint…Geran

inheritance; were very warm in the matter; and spoke of disputing the

judgment。  La Pigoreau went to see them; and joined in concert with

them。



Then commenced this famous lawsuit; which long occupied all France;

and is parallel in some respects; but not in the time occupied in the

hearing; to the case heard by Solomon; in which one child was claimed

by two mothers。



The Marquis de Saint…Maixent and Madame de Bouille being dead; were

naturally no parties to the suit; which was fought against the

Saint…Geran family by la Pigoreau and Mesdames du Lude and de

Ventadour。  These ladies no doubt acted in good faith; at first at

any rate; in refusing to believe the crime; for if they had

originally known the truth it is incredible that they could have

fought the case so long aid so obstinately。



They first of all went to the aid of the midwife; who had fallen sick

in prison; they then consulted together; and resolved as follows:



That the accused should appeal against criminal proceedings;



That la Pigoreau should lodge a civil petition against the judgments

which ordered her arrest and the confronting of witnesses;



That they should appeal against the abuse of obtaining and publishing

monitories; and lodge an interpleader against the sentence of the

judge of first instruction; who had condemned the matron to capital

punishment;



And that finally; to carry the war into the enemy's camp; la Pigoreau

should impugn the maternity of the countess; claiming the child as

her own; and that the ladies should depose that the countess's

accouchement was an imposture invented to cause it to be supposed

that she had given birth to a child。



For more safety and apparent absence of collusion Mesdames du Lude

and de Ventadour pretended to have no communication with la Pigoreau。



About this time the midwife died in prison; from an illness which

vexation and remorse had aggravated。  After her death; her son

Guillemin confessed that she had often told him that the countess had

given birth to a son whom Baulieu had carried off; and that the child

entrusted to Baulieu at the chateau Saint…Geran was the same as the

one recovered; the youth added that he had concealed this fact so

long as it might injure his mother; and he further stated that the

ladies de Ventadour and du Lude had helped her in prison with money

and adviceanother strong piece of presumptive evidence。



The petitions of the accused and the interpleadings of Mesdames du

Lude and de Ventadour were discussed in seven hearings; before three

courts convened。  The suit proceeded with all the languor and

chicanery of the period。



After long and specious arguments; the attorney general Bijnon gave

his decision in favour of the Count and Countess of Saint…Geran;

concluding thus:



〃The court rejects the civil appeal of la Pigoreau; and all the

opposition and appeals of the appellants and the defendants; condemns

them to fine and in costs; and seeing that the charges against la

Pigoreau were of a serious nature; and that a personal summons had

been decreed against her; orders her committal; recommending her to

the indulgence of the court。〃



By a judgment given in a sitting at the Tournelle by M。 de Mesmes; on

the 18th of August 1657; the appellant ladies' and the defendants'

opposition was rejected with fine and costs。  La Pigoreau was

forbidden to leave the city and suburbs of Paris under penalty of

summary conviction。  The judgment in the case followed the rejection

of the appeal。



This reverse at first extinguished the litigation of Mesdames du Lude

and de Ventadour; but it soon revived more briskly than ever。  These

ladies; who had taken la Pigoreau in their coach to all the hearings;

prompted her; in order to procrastinate; to file a fresh petition; in

which she demanded the confrontment of all the witnesses to the

pregnancy; and the confinement。  On hearing this petition; the court

gave on the 28th of August 1658 a decree ordering the confrontment;

but on condition that for three days previously la Pigoreau should

deliver herself a prisoner in the Conciergerie。



This judgment; the consequences of which greatly alarmed la Pigoreau;

produced such an effect upon her that; after having weighed the

interest she had in the suit; which she would lose by flight; against

the danger to her life if she ventured her person into the hands of

justice; she abandoned her false plea of maternity; and took refuge

abroad。  This last circumstance was a heavy blow to Mesdames du Lude

and de Ventadour; but they were not at the end of their resources and

their obstinacy。



Contempt of court being decreed against la Pigoreau; and the case

being got up against the other defendants; the Count de Saint…Geran

left for the Bourbonnais; to put in execution the order to confront

the witnesses。  Scarcely had he arrived in the province when he was

obliged to interrupt his work to receive the king and the queen

mother; who were returning from Lyons and passing through Moulins。

He presented the Count de la Palice to their Majesties as his son;

they received him as such。  But during the visit of the king and

queen the Count de Saint…Geran fell ill; over fatigued; no doubt; by

the trouble he had taken to give them a suitable reception; over and

above the worry of

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