At four o’clock, after the usual rising of the court, president Tiphaine again took his seat, when Madame Lorrain, accompanied by Monsieur Auffray and Brigaut and a crowd of interested persons, entered the court-room. Vinet was alone. This contrast struck the minds of those present. The lawyer, who still wore his robe, turned his cold face to the judge, settled his spectacles on his pallid green eyes, and then in a shrill, persistent voice he stated that two strangers had forced themselves at night into the Rogron domicile and had abducted therefrom the minor Lorrain. The legal rights were with the guardian, who now demanded the restoration of his ward.
Monsieur Auffray rose, as surrogate-guardian, and requested to be heard.
“If the judge,” he said, “will admit the report, which I hold in my hand, signed by one of the most famous physicians in Paris, and by all the physicians in Provins, he will understand not only that the demand of the Sieur Rogron is senseless, but also that the grandmother of the minor had grave cause to instantly remove her from her persecutors. Here are the facts. The report of these physicians attribute the almost dying condition of the said minor to the ill-treatment she has received from the Sieur Rogron and his sister. We shall, as the law directs, convoke a Family Council with the least possible delay, and discuss the question as to whether or not the guardian should be deposed. And we now ask that the minor be not returned to the domicile of the said guardian but that she be confided to some member of her family who shall be designated by the judge.”
Vinet replied, declaring that the physicians’ report ought to have been submitted to him in order that he might have disproved it.
“Not submitted to your side,” said the judge, severely, “but possibly to the procureur du roi. The case is heard.”
The judge then wrote at the bottom of the petition the following order:—
“Whereas it appears, from a deliberate and unanimous report of all
the physicians of this town, together with Doctor Bianchon of the
medical faculty of Paris, that the minor Lorrain, claimed by
Jerome-Denis Rogron, her guardian, is extremely ill in consequence
of ill-treatment and personal assault in the house of the said
guardian and his sister:
“We, president of the court of Provins, passing upon the said
petition, order that until the Family Council is held the minor
Lorrain is not to be returned to the household of her said
guardian, but shall be kept in that of her surrogate-guardian.
“And further, considering the state in which the said minor now
is, and the traces of violence which, according to the report of
the physicians, are now upon her person, we commission the
attending physician and the surgeon in charge of the hospital of
Provins to visit her, and in case the injuries from the said
assault become alarming, the matter will be held to await the
action of the criminal courts; and this without prejudice to the
civil suit undertaken by Auffray the surrogate-guardian.”
This severe judgment was read out by President Tiphaine in a loud and distinct voice.
“Why not send them to the galleys at once?” said Vinet. “And all this fuss about a girl who was carrying on an intrigue with an apprentice to a cabinet-maker! If the case goes on in this way,” he cried, insolently, “we shall demand other judges on the ground of legitimate suspicion.”
Vinet left the court-room, and went among the chief men of his party to explain Rogron’s position, declaring that he had never so much as given a flip to his cousin, and that the judge had viewed him much less as Pierrette’s guardian than as a leading elector in Provins.