‘Yes, Béjart, whom she had only seen twice.
‘Asked if Béjart had not some spite against Du Parc.
‘No; and what she knew about Racine she obtained first from Mademoiselle de Gorla.
‘Asked what De Gorla said to her, and strictly cross-examined.
‘De Gorla told her that Racine, having secretly espoused Du Parc [here follows a repetition of the statement already made]; that she (Du Parc) had not even been allowed to speak to Manon, her maid, who is a midwife, though she asked for Manon and got some one to write asking her to come to Paris to see her, as well as La Voisin herself.
‘Asked if De Gorla told her the manner in which the poisoning had been carried out, and who had been made use of in the matter.
‘No.’
Such were the declarations of La Voisin before the commissioners of the Chambre Ardente. She repeated them exactly in her final examination before the judges: ‘She had known Mademoiselle Du Parc, the actress; had been a friend of hers for fourteen years; her stepmother, named De Gorla, had told her that Racine had poisoned her, and she only knew of Du Parc’s death when she saw the body at the door on the way to burial.’
Finally, in the anguish of torture, La Voisin maintained her declarations.
‘Asked if she knew nothing more concerning what she had said at the trial about the poisoning of Du Parc.