In the many hearings which the cardinal had to undergo,
the president of the committee of investigation treated him with
extreme consideration, and if the cardinal felt himself wearied, the
sitting was postponed till another day. Moreover, at these hearings
the defender of the cardinal could take part, in order to summon
those witnesses or accused persons who could contribute to the
release of the cardinal, and show that he had been the victim of a
deeply-laid plot, and had committed no other wrong than that of
being too zealous in the service of the queen.
News spread abroad of numerous arrests occurring in Paris. It had
been known from the royal decree that the Countess Lamotte-Valois
had likewise been arrested and imprisoned in the Bastile; but people
were anxious to learn decisively whether Count Cagliostro, the
wonder-doctor, had been seized. The story ran that a young woman in
Brussels, who had been involved in the affair, and who had an
extraordinary resemblance to the Queen Marie Antoinette, had been
arrested, and brought to Paris for confinement in the Bastile.
All Paris, all France watched this contest with eager interest,
which, after many months, was still far from a conclusion, and
respecting which so much could be said.
The friends of the queen asserted that her majesty was completely
innocent; that she had never spoken to the Countess Lamotte-Valois,
and only once through her chamberlain.
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