A man of the character and ambitions of Gilles de Retz would naturally have about him a corps of men to assist in carrying out his nefarious courses. They would necessarily be without fear and without conscience, adepts in secrecy and deceit, with the instincts and abilities of detectives and ready to obey any behest of their master. Gilles had such a corps of lieutenants; most of them were Bretons as he was, thoroughly acquainted with the country, most of them lowly born, many of them illegitimate and strongly suspected to have had fathers of higher birth than their mothers. Gilles made choice of these familiars from among his retinue, selecting those best qualified to carry out his projects and to be his right hand in executing his plans. The names of some of these have been preserved to us in the process against Gilles: Eustache Blanchet, Henriet Griart, Jean Roussignol, Gilles de Sillé, Hugues de Bremont, Étienne Corrillaut (_alias_ Poitou), Robin Romulart, and one woman, Perrine Martin, _alias_ La Meffraye. These performed for Gilles the rôle of secretary, aide-de-camp, assistants, guards, spies, or servants, as occasion demanded, and became identified in the minds of the peasants as servants and representatives of Gilles de Retz. They spent practically their lifetime in his service, and toward the end of their career they came to be feared throughout the countryside as much as Gilles himself. Indeed, it was their actions which first attracted public attention towards him. It came to be noted that when infant or child had disappeared, some of these had been seen in the neighbourhood; and when all things pertaining thereto were so mysterious, the people stood ready to catch at any straw which might serve as a possible solution. The wiser persons, who were not so superstitious and did not attribute this disappearance of children to supernatural causes, but rather to the action of fiends, discovered and remarked the coincidence of the presence of some one of these with the disappearance of an infant. The attention of the officers was turned in his direction, and certain suggestions or suspicions were given to the Bishop of Nantes, who thereupon determined to open a secret inquest for the solution of the mystery. By this means the matter was brought to light.