



Produced by David Widger.





                           *URBAIN GRANDIER*

                                  _By_

                        *Alexandre Dumas, Pere*

            _From the Eight Volume set "Celebrated Crimes"_


                                  1910




CONTENTS


    *URBAIN GRANDIER--1634*
    CHAPTER I
    CHAPTER II
    CHAPTER III
    CHAPTER IV
    CHAPTER V
    CHAPTER VI
    CHAPTER VII
    CHAPTER VIII
    CHAPTER IX
    CHAPTER X
    CHAPTER XI
    CHAPTER XII




*URBAIN GRANDIER--1634*




CHAPTER I


On Sunday, the 26th of November, 1631, there was great excitement in the
little town of Loudun, especially in the narrow streets which led to the
church of Saint-Pierre in the marketplace, from the gate of which the
town was entered by anyone coming from the direction of the abbey of
Saint-Jouin-les-Marmes. This excitement was caused by the expected
arrival of a personage who had been much in people's mouths latterly in
Loudun, and about whom there was such difference of opinion that
discussion on the subject between those who were on his side and those
who were against him was carried on with true provincial acrimony. It
was easy to see, by the varied expressions on the faces of those who
turned the doorsteps into improvised debating clubs, how varied were the
feelings with which the man would be welcomed who had himself formally
announced to friends and enemies alike the exact date of his return.

About nine o'clock a kind of sympathetic vibration ran through the
crowd, and with the rapidity of a flash of lightning the words, "There
he is! there he is!" passed from group to group. At this cry some
withdrew into their houses and shut their doors and darkened their
windows, as if it were a day of public mourning, while others opened
them wide, as if to let joy enter. In a few moments the uproar and
confusion evoked by the news was succeeded by the deep silence of
breathless curiosity.

Then, through the silence, a figure advanced, carrying a branch of
laurel in one hand as a token of triumph. It was that of a young man of
from thirty-two to thirty-four years of age, with a graceful and
well-knit frame, an aristocratic air and faultlessly beautiful features
of a somewhat haughty expression. Although he had walked three leagues
to reach the town, the ecclesiastical garb which he wore was not only
elegant but of dainty freshness. His eyes turned to heaven, and singing
in a sweet voice praise to the Lord, he passed through the streets
leading to the church in the market-place with a slow and solemn gait,
without vouchsafing a look, a word, or a gesture to anyone. The entire
crowd, falling into step, marched behind him as he advanced, singing
like him, the singers being the prettiest girls in Loudun, for we have
forgotten to say that the crowd consisted almost entirely of women.

Meanwhile the object of all this commotion arrived at length at the
porch of the church of Saint-Pierre. Ascending the steps, he knelt at
the top and prayed in a low voice, then rising he touched the church
doors with his laurel branch, and they opened wide as if by magic,
revealing the choir decorated and illuminated as if for one of the four
great feasts of the year, and with all its scholars, choir boys,
singers, beadles, and vergers in their places. Glancing around, he for
whom they were waiting came up the nave, passed through the choir, knelt
for a second time at the foot of the altar, upon which he laid the
branch of laurel, then putting on a robe as white as snow and passing
the stole around his neck, he began the celebration of the mass before a
congregation composed of all those who had followed him. At the end of
the mass a Te Deum was sung.

He who had just rendered thanks to God for his own victory with all the
solemn ceremonial usually reserved for the triumphs of kings was the
priest Urbain Grandier. Two days before, he had been acquitted, in
virtue of a decision pronounced by M. d'Escoubleau de Sourdis,
Archbishop of Bordeaux, of an accusation brought against him of which he
had been declared guilty by a magistrate, and in punishment of which he
had been condemned to fast on bread and water every Friday for three
months, and forbidden to exercise his priestly functions in the diocese
of Poitiers for five years and in the town of Loudun for ever