The same week the police superintendent sent the same servant to say that I must be at the Attorney General's house at 6 o'clock. I went with my mother. Then they asked me what had happened at the Grotto. I told everything and he put it in writing. Then he read it to me first as the superintendent had done, that is to say, that he had written certain things that I had not said. So I said: 'Sir, I did not say this.' He persisted that I had, and my only reply was that I had not. Then after we had argued for some time he admitted that he had made a mistake and he continued his reading, all the time making errors and saying that he had the superintendent's papers and they were not the same. I said that I had told him the same things and if the police superintendent had made a mistake, well, so much the worse for him. Then he told his wife to send for the superintendent and a prison official who would see that I passed a night in prison.
My poor mother had been crying for some time. She looked at me from time to time and when she heard that they were going to send us to prison her tears fell with abundance. For my part I consoled her saying: 'That's a good one! You cry because we are going to prison but we have not done any harm to anyone.' Then when the messenger was going to fetch the reply, he offered us chairs. My mother took a chair, for she was all shaky considering we had been standing for two hours. For my part, I thanked the Attorney General but I sat on the floor like a tailor.
There were men waiting around and when they saw that we were not coming out they started kicking the door; though the servant was there he could not control them. The Attorney General put his head out of the window from time to time to tell them to be quiet, but they replied that he must let us out or, otherwise, they had not finished yet. Then he decided to let us go saying that the superintendent was engaged and that the case would be remanded until tomorrow.
Bernadette Soubirous