the most abject state of poverty. His companions in mendicity were his
brother John and his cousin Julien. He had been given lodging out of
charity in a neighbouring village, but before his apprehension he had
been absent for eight days.

Before the judges, Roulet acknowledged that he was able to transform
himself into a wolf by means of a salve which his parents had given
him. When questioned about the two wolves which had been seen leaving
the corpse, he said that he knew perfectly well who they were, for
they were his companions, Jean and Julian, who possessed the same
secret as himself. He was shown the clothes he had worn on the day of
his seizure, and he recognized them immediately; he described the boy
whom he had murdered, gave the date correctly, indicated the precise
spot where the deed had been done, and recognized the father of the
boy as the man who had first run up when the screams of the lad had
been heard. In prison, Roulet behaved like an idiot. When seized, his
belly was distended and hard; in prison he drank one evening a whole
pailful of water, and from that moment refused to eat or drink.

His parents, on inquiry, proved to be respectable and pious people,
and they proved that his brother John and his cousin Julien had been
engaged at a distance on the day of Roulet's apprehension.

"What is your name, and what your estate?" asked the judge, Pierre
Hérault.

"My name is Jacques Roulet, my age thirty-five; I am poor, and a
mendicant."

"What are you accused of having done?"