thought!' he exclaimed; 'But it is unlucky
that we have no sugar here. It would be
delightful to drink a glass of punch while we
are waiting for the tide to rise enough. At
any rate, it will warm my fingers till the sea
comes and puts it out. But I shall then have
no further need for it.'

"'Wretch!' said Louis Morand, 'do you
not see that the waves are breaking against
the rock which we have mounted? '

"'I see it, as well as you do; and I almost
wish that it was all over and ended. For
there is a moment coming which frightens
me a little. But, Louis, why are you undressing
yourself? '

"'Why? Because you have confessed your
crime, of which I was already aware;
because I have brought you up hither to have
my revenge. Think, now, of your own and
Hortense's perfidy.'

"He stepped from the rock; the water was
up to his middle. As Rechteren shouted
after him, 'Louis! Louis! Do you abandon
me thus?' an enormous billow rose above
Morand's head. He dived, and reappeared on
the other side of the wave, which broke
against the foot of the rock. Louis Morand
had hard work to swim, plunging under
every wave. Rechteren screamed, but he did
not hear him; for the sea made a deafening
noise, till he got completely away from the
breakers. He then turned round. The blue
flame was still shining in the darkness of night.
A little afterwards, he turned again. The
flame was extinguished. Three hours later
he arrived at Fécamp.

"Look that way," said the coast-guard,
pointing to the grotto which he had already
indicated, "if the tide were low I could still
show you, by descending to the beach, the
hole in the rock in which Rechteren set light
to the flask of spirits.

"Louis related the death of his friend,
exactly as suited his own convenience. They
had been surprised by the tide; in spite of
desperate efforts, he had been unable to
rescue Rechteren, and had had great difficulty
in saving himself. He ostentatiously mourned
the death of the man whom he had murdered;
and everybody agreed in praising his excellent
heart and his sensibility. But, what he
really feared, was the presence of Master
Guillaume and his severe and penetrating
glance.

"This time he waited till the casket was
completely empty before he made up his
mind to apply to the sorcerer. At the door,
he hesitated, and was very near turning back
again; but by repeatedly reminding himself
that Master Guillaume had imposed no
conditions upon his favours, and that, moreover,
he would be sure to be deceived, like other
people, by the reports that were current, he
took courage, and entered. Master
Guillaume, according to custom, filled the casket
without speaking a word. But there was
something cruelly sardonic in his look; and
when Louis Morand offered his hand as usual
on entering, the master did not offer his in
return. Louis retired, pale and horribly
agitated; the master had evidently refused
to take the hand of a murderer. An ironical
smile had for a moment contracted his lips.
Louis had everything to fear. Not only
might he soon cease to receive any further
supply of money from the sorcerer, but it was
probable that his punishment would not end
there. He was more than three months
without daring to present himself again; and
he spent all that time in the most serious
anxiety. He had exhausted all the pleasures
which the neighbourhood could offer him.
Like the goat, which, after having cropped
the grass within the circle which the length
of its tether allows it to traverse, crops it
again as short as velvet, and then lies down
in discontent, so Louis, satiated with his
past enjoyments, lived a life of worn-out
dulness.

"A fearful thought entered his mind. It
fixed itself there, and took firm root. It
completely occupied him by night and by
day. He turned it over, and arranged his
plans in his head; all his difficulties vanished,
all his dangers were over. As soon as everything
was prepared for the execution of his
project, he went to the house of his aged
friend. When Zano opened the door for him
to enter, he rushed upon the negro, enveloped
his head in his mantle to smother his cries,
and handed him to some men who carried
him away. Then, followed by his
accomplices, he proceeded, pistol in hand, to Master
Guillaume's chamber, where they bound him
hand and foot. 'Louis Morand,' asked the
sorcerer, "what is it that you want of me?"

"No one answered. Louis was left alone
with the master, to whom he said, 'Deliver
up all the treasures you possess.'

"'Louis Morand,' replied the Master, ' you
have made too bad a use of the wealth I
have already bestowed upon you, for me to
be guilty of such an act of madness as to feed
your vices any longer. With what you have
hitherto received, you have only turned out
foolish and wicked; if you were in possession
of my hidden treasure, your vices would
become crimes, and your wickedness would
increase with the means of indulging it.'

"Meanwhile, Louis's attendants searched
the house, from the roof to the cellar. They
returned to say that they could not find the
value of ten crowns altogether. Then they
carried the old man away, and shut him up
in a prison which Louis had contrived and
built. It was a tall tower, lined inside
throughout with plates of polished iron.
Here, they told him, he should be starved
to death; and here he lay, enduring the
dreadful pangs of hunger and thirst, for six
days.

"Towards the evening of the sixth day a
voice was heard, and Louis Morand's face
appeared at one of the windows. He employed