leasures of life,
sold his soul to the devil, engaging on his honor to give it up to him
whenever he (the devil) should enter the city of Rome. Twardowsky now
enjoyed to the full his new power, reveling in luxury himself, and
lavishing gifts and banquets on his friends. The populace also
shared his generosity--all the more, too, from the strange manner of it.
On one occasion, we are told, he pierced three holes in a shoemaker's
nose with his own awl, and caused a tun of brandy to flow from it for
the refreshment of the crowd. One day he was informed that a stranger
who was at the inn called the "City of Rome" wished to see him. He went
at once to the place with no misgivings, but on his arrival there found
the devil, who had come to claim the fulfillment of the contract.
Provoked at the quibble, he resolved to employ a ruse himself, and just
as the devil was about to take possession of him he seized the infant
child of the innkeeper from its cradle and held it up before him, its
innocence being a sure defence against Satan's power. He, however,
demanded what had become of his plighted word. The honor of the Polish
gentleman could not resist this appeal. He put down the child and rose
into the air with Satan. But while they were still hovering over Cracow
the sound of church-bells awoke in Twardowsky's recollection a hymn to
the Virgin, which he forthwith sang, and the devil could hold him no
longer. Twardowsky, however, could not get down again, but remains
suspended in the air, only receiving news from the earth by means of a
spider which happened to be on the tail of his coat, and which
occasionally spins a thread and goes down, for a while, returning with
whatever it may have picked up for his information and amusement.

No Polish story would be complete without a woman, and so we find that
Twardowsky had a wife, beautiful, witty and imperious, with all the
fascinations universally conceded to the Polish women. Madame Twardowsky
is said to have ruled her husband just as he ruled the devil during the
time of that personage's subjection; and there is a second version of
the story which makes her too much for Satan himself. According to this
account, Twardowsky was entertaining a number of friends at the "City of
Rome," when suddenly the devil appeared. While Twardowsky, to gain
time, was reading over the compact, his wife, looking over his
shoulder, suddenly laughed, and addressing the devil, told him there
were still