La Pivardière; more than two hundred
persons swore to his identity; the curé
confirmed it; and his testimony could not well
be suspected, as he was to succeed the Prior
of Miseray, who as accomplice in the murder
would lose all his benefices.  He saw his
little girl, who had given such fatal evidence
against her mother, and she recognised him
at once for her father.  At Miseray every
one knew him.

The Lieutenant-particulier of Chatillon,
who had been the first to set the inquiry on
foot, came to the reservoir at Nerbonne to
search for the body of La Pivardière, who,
being informed of the fact, presented himself
before this functionary, and said:

"Do not lose time in dragging the waters
for what you may find upon the banks."

The lieutenant, thinking he saw a ghost,
was seized with such terror, that he turned
his horse's head and galloped off at full
speed.  All this might have been deemed
convincing; but when, as a last satisfaction,
De la Pivardière presented himself at the
prison of Châteauroux, where the two female
servants were confined, they both declared
him to be an impostor.

One of them afterwards declared that the
Lieutenant-particulier had ordered them with
threats to disavow their master.  What
makes this somewhat probable is, that he
had given strict orders that no one should be
allowed to enter the prison or to see the
prisoners; and he made a formal complaint
against the judge and prévôt of Ramorantin,
who had accompanied De la Pivardière.

The Procureur-général of Chatillon ordered
a decree to be registered for the arrest of M.
de la Pivardière, that further measures might
be taken for ascertaining the truth.  This
coming to his ears, La Pivardière, who could
not run the risk of standing a trial for
bigamy, which would in all likelihood have
followed, did not stop to be arrested, but
escaped from Chatillon in all haste, being
assisted by the Lieutenant-général of
Ramorantin. This magistrate drew up a statement,
testifying to the identity of the Sieur
de la Pivardière, which was signed by all his
family; and then he departed to Auxerre,
hoping he had left things in train for a speedy
ending.  But, the intricate machinery of
French justice, once set in motion, was
not to be so easily stopped.  All the different
officials who had been engaged in the
inquiry began to quarrel about their
prerogatives, each declaring that the others
had infringed his jurisdiction.  The
Lieutenant-particulier of Chatillon, who had
been the first to stir in the affair, still
persisted in drawing up a procès-verbal
concerning the murder of a man who had proved
himself to be alive!  The Procureur-général
took part with the officials of Chatillon; the
Judge of Ramorantin, the friend of La
Pivardière, was reprimanded for meddling
with what was not within his jurisdiction.
The Prior of Miseray was arrested, heavily
ironed, and thrown into a dungeon.  The case
had become highly curious.  There were De
la Pivardière himself, his wife, and the Prior
on one side, declaring that there had been
no murder whatever committed; on the
other side, there was the Lieuteuant-particulier
and the Procureur du Roi for Chatillon
sur l'Indre, who insisted on proving, for the
sake of public justice, that M. de la Pivardière
had been effectually murdered, although
no trace of his body could be found.

In this dilemma the Sieur de la Pivardière
petitioned for a safe-conduct for four months,
that he might appear in person, as his
absence gave some colour to the assertion of
the opposite party, that he was an impostor;
but, without this safe-conduct he could not
appear, because he would certainly have
been tried for his bigamy and hanged.
Except to those well versed in the method
and technicalities of the French courts of
justice of those days, it would be hopeless to
attempt to render the course pursued in this
case intelligible; there were pleadings before
one magistrate, and counter-pleadings before
another; instructions, counter-instructions,
and re-instructions; judgments pronounced
which were to prejudice neither party; and
decisions the intention of which was to place
everybody in the position they were before
the pleadings began; and after fifteen days'
arguing the cause it was remitted to another
court to begin it afresh.

The venue, as we should term it, of the
case, was changed to Chartres, and the
prisoners were transferred to the prison of
that city.  At this stage of the matter, the
second wife of M. de la Pivardière showed
herself thoroughly generous.  Moved with
pity for all parties, she went to Versailles;
and, through the interest of some influential
persons, obtained an audience with the
king, and entreated him to grant M. de la
Pivardière a royal safe-conduct that he might
appear without danger.  Louis the
Fourteenth—who had been informed of all the
circumstances—treated her with great kindness,
granted her request, and said that such a
beautiful woman ought to have had a better
fate.

Armed with this safe-conduct, which was
dated Versailles, twenty-sixth August,
sixteen hundred and ninety-eight, De la
Pivardière surrendered himself, and became a
prisoner in Fort l'Evèque, at Paris, in order,
as he declared, to substantiate that he was
actually Louis de la Pivardière, squire, sieur
de Bouchet, and husband to the lady
Marguérite de Chauvelier.  At length the cause
came to a hearing. The most celebrated
advocates in France were employed on both sides;
and, after many days' pleading, D'Auquesseau,
who was then the advocate-general, and
afterwards chancellor of France, made a
speech full of force and eloquence, in favour
of Madame de la Pivardière and the others