In a third, that she had been delivered of a mole;

In a fourth, that she had been confined of a male infant, which Baulieu
had carried away in a basket;

And in a fifth, in which she answered from the dock, she maintained that
her evidence of the countess's accouchement had been extorted from her
by violence. She made no charges against either Madame de Bouille or
the Marquis de Saint Maixent. On the other hand, no sooner was she under
lock and key than she despatched her son Guillemin to the marchioness
to inform her that she was arrested. The marchioness recognised how
threatening things were, and was in a state of consternation; she
immediately sent the sieur de la Foresterie, her steward, to the
lieutenant-general, her counsel, a mortal enemy of the count, that he
might advise her in this conjuncture, and suggest a means for helping
the matron without appearing openly in the matter. The lieutenant's
advice was to quash the proceedings and obtain an injunction against the
continuance of the preliminaries to the action. The marchioness spent a
large sum of money, and obtained this injunction; but it was immediately
reversed, and the bar to the suit removed.

La Foresterie was then ordered to pass to Riom, where the sisters Quinet
lived, and to bribe them heavily to secrecy. The elder one, on leaving
the marchioness's service, had shaken her fist in her face, feeling
secure with the secrets in her knowledge, and told her that she would
repent having dismissed her and her sister, and that she would make a
clean breast of the whole affair, even were she to be hung first. These
girls then sent word that they wished to enter her service again; that
the countess had promised them handsome terms if they would speak; and
that they had even been questioned in her name by a Capuchin superior,