escaped; and yet, by a fatality which it seems impossible to explain, she was the first person I saw on entering my private apartments in the Hotel de la Suze!"

"Hast thou spoken with her?" inquired the philosopher, with interest. Doth she listen with understanding?"

"She is neither startled by the truths of science nor affrighted by the consequences of error: nevertheless, I have not as yet ventured upon full explanation. She is daring, high-minded-even enthusiastic; yet, she has a way of trying even the sublimest speculations by the common analogies of life, which cripples her progress down to the snail-pace of vulgar minds."

"Is she here of her own free will?" demanded Orosmandel.

66

She is," replied the baron; "but, as it seems to me, not so much out of love of science, as from some principle of honour, or filial piety. She would prevent her father -you understand me-from being an accomplice in what she conceives to be a third mortal sin. She expected to be here under the protection of my daughter; and to able to save from danger the young man you have obtained from the Jew. It is in vain, however, to expect anything from constraint. She must return to Nantes, to the house of her kindred; and our intercommunication must go on in the natural course."

66

That may not be," said Orosmandel, quickly. She must remain in your hands, a hostage at once for her father and lover for such is the young man she designs to save. Let her be transferred to my private apart

ments."

66 "How!"

66

Where the foot of woman hath never trod before. There may be some meaning in the apparent coincidences thou describest; and, till I have leisure to seek counsel thereon, as unerring as mere human reason is fallible, it were unwise to permit her departure."

The baron still hesitated.

66

You do not yet know her," said he. "To detain her by violence would frustrate my purpose at once; for she would distrust the reasonings of an archangel, if she listened to it under compulsion. She has, indeed, become already suspicious, since she has seen nothing of

Pauline."

66

And why not admit her into the damsel's society? The same instruction would serve for both."

"She is a Jewess," replied the baron, "and Pauline

at least shall hold no communion with the accursed race."

66

Truly a conscientious scruple! Your fountain of Diana is so pure that it will not mingle with wine, yet would you consent to incarnadine its waters with "

"Hush! hush! that shall not be! We shall obtain treasure enough for all that is necessary-and even if we fail, there is yet time for other means. If Hagar will not consent to peril her soul for me, her body at least shall be mine; and that is something, for she is passing fair. If she prefer the lighter risk, be it so: there is yet another whom I have thought of again and again. Indeed, had she not been a kind of protégée of my daughter, peasant though she be, I should have made the attempt before

now.

"Behold her!" said Orosmandel, suddenly; and at the instant, a portion of the drapery which covered the wall of the chamber opened like a curtain; and the peasant Marie was seen traversing a narrow passage beyond. The girl paused, and looked steadily into the room for an instant. She then crossed her bosom, and went on.

66

I foresaw," said Orosmandel, before Gilles de Retz had recovered from his surprise: "I foresaw that it would come to this; and therefore is she here. She is in a bridal dress, thou seest, but is still a virgin, and no wife. Her education has been good, and her natural understanding is better; but the circumstances of her condition will render temptation more easy, and she will listen the more readily that communication with such as thou will be reckoned an honour. Leave Hagar to me, as the more difficult of persuasion."

“Well, it shall be as you counsel; but not till I despair of success myself. Yet remember, if she will not be the abettor of my spirit in its exalted aspirations, she shall be the ally of my senses in their lowly pleasures. When your task becomes hopeless, return her to my charge. For the present, farewell;" and the baron, making a low reverence to Orosmandel, who slightly bent his head in return, left the apartment by the opening in the hangings which Marie had passed.

CHAPTER XVIII.

It was at the moment when the above conversation ended, that David Armstrong was summoned by the dwarf to the study of his new master. He followed his conductor in silence, marvelling as he went at the grotesque agility with which the elf-like shape sprang up the steep stair; and not a little startled by the grin, half of exultation, half of mockery, with which he turned round every now and then to regard him. When they gained the landing-place, however, the equivocal creature paused suddenly, and crept towards the door, as if in terror. When David reached him, he saw that he shook as in an ague fit, and his voice was scarcely intelligible, when he said in a whisper, pointing with an expression of solemn meaning to the entrance, "He is there. In with thee, for thou canst not choose. Behold, it is written!"

David went in as he was bidden, treading softly in unconscious imitation; and he felt that the door closed itself, behind him, as noiselessly as snow falls upon the ground. Startled by the sudden and mysterious gloom, by the solitary light gleaming like a lamp in a burying-vault, and by the strange objects it disclosed with the indistinctness of a dream, he hung back; but almost at the instant of his entrance, the curtain unclosed, and he saw a figure at once elegant and soldier-like enter the apartment.

"Pardon me, my father," said the Lord de Retz, “ one other word"--and the speaker paused abruptly and stood still. David now observed the tall, dim form of Orosmandel, erect and motionless, within the circle which surrounded the table. His back was turned to his visitors, and his eyes fixed, as it appeared from his attitude, upon the half luminous plan of the heavens. A deep silence prevailed for some minutes; during which the scholar, standing against the black wall and beyond the reach of the feeble rays of the lamp, had opportunity to see without being seen, and to accustom his eyes to the spectral gloom of the place. Gilles de Retz, in the mean time, with his hands crossed upon his bosom, and his head bent, remained without motion, watching the moment of his preceptor's return to sublunary things.

At length it appeared as if a shadow passed across the picture, or that the paintings themselves moved upon its surface; a sudden stream of air entered the apartment;

the flame of the lamp flashed and flickered; the dark hangings of the walls moved; and a hollow sound, articulate like a human voice, though unintelligible, was heard sounding at an immense distance, yet seeming to stir with its breath the whole atmosphere of the room. Then all was

silent as before. Orosmandel turned round.

"Baron de Retz," said he, coming forward, but in a tone of more solemnity than sternness, "I warn thee that I will brook no intrusion. Look to it."

"I crave your pardon most humbly," said the baron, "but I had hardly reached the end of the corridor, when I bethought me of something I had forgotten; and conceiving that you had not had time to forsake the thoughts of the world”

"Enough. Say on."

"It was of your relation, or protégé, I would have spoken; he whom you banished from your presence, and who sailed away upon unknown seas, and there perished. Pauline avers, and holds to it obstinately, that she saw him, either in body or spirit, in Paris."

"Not alive!"

"Moving and breathing like another man. But what is stranger still-for this I should else have set down as a young maid's fancy-the same idea has possessed itself of the cooler if not stronger mind of Hagar." At this name David's heart leaped within him; but, repressing his emotion, he scarcely permitted himself to breathe.

"Even casual resemblances," replied the sage, after a pause, "are deceitful; but there be also those that are produced of purpose. I shall inquire into this; and on some early night, which I shall hereafter name, if the damsel will honour me with a visit at the mid hour, she shall know all even to the number of fathoms of salt-water which cover the bones of Prelati."

"Are you certain of his death?"

"Certain: yet will I furnish proof to her."

"It is well. In the matter of Hagar, on farther thought, your counsel is wise. It is not unlikely that we may require a yet farther supply from the Jew; and with her in our possession it will be all the easier to come to terms. Yet, be as watchful over her, father, if she do not league herself with us, as if she do: for mine she shall be in either case. As a Jewess, she has already as much uncleanness as my soul can brook: take care, I beseech you, that in your hands she receive no contamination as a woman. As for this young man you mention, if I find that he so much as lifts

his eyes to her unbelieving face-St. Mary! he shall scarcely run even the brief course of his predecessors. And now, father, once more adieu.”

"Have no fear for Hagar," said Orosmandel, following him; "and as for the young man, though in general I permit no interference with my servants, thou mayst deal with him as thou thinkest fit. He is too shrewd, and too forward, as I am given to understand, for his calling; and even yonder holy book, if not protected by a circle which he durst not pass, would be no more secure from his gaze than the fair face of a Hebrew maiden. In the pupil of the alchemist, I expected nothing more than a wild, yet simple enthusiast, who would do what he was bidden, with the understanding of one familiar with science."

"Then why not, since it is his nature to pry into what does not concern him-why not send him at once to fathom the secrets of the Erdre? You know that I am already doubted; that men look grave when my name is mentioned, even at the feast; that the church begins to stir; that in fine, this infernal mitre-may the saints forgive me! has been refused, not to Gilles de Retz, but to the suspected pupil of occult science. Why run any risk?”

"We run none. He cannot deceive me, and a single thought of the heart, not to say a word, or a look, would be his death-warrant. I foresee, however, that another loan which thou dost contemplate as a possibility, will be absolutely necessary; and this young man- -whose services are at any rate necessary to me at this moment-from the entanglement of his affections, will use all the talents he is said to possess to unlock the treasure-chest of the Jew. But hearken, father"-Here they passed out of hearing, Orosmandel following the Lord de Retz along the narrow corridor.

When David Armstrong was left alone in the mystic chamber, he did not waste the precious moments in endeavouring to arrange his ideas. To gain some knowledge of the localities of the place, and of its real nature-this was the object which his quick mind saw should be paramount. The book the altar the mysterious circle—these occurred to him as being of the most importance. If it be daring alone, thought he, that is wanting, I dare pass, even if the protecting line should be of toads and serpents and that is something to boast of: if it be of anything as abhorrent to God as these are to the nature of man, Ι put my trust in the ever-Virgin, and in the most holy St. Bride! And so thinking, he sprang lightly across the floor; and although