ng the
distaffs of old women with his horns. 'Tis certain that the surly monk
who was round about the temple last year, now prowls in the City. Take
care, La Falourdel, that he doth not knock at your door.' One evening I
was spinning on my wheel, there comes a knock at my door; I ask who it
is. They swear. I open. Two men enter. A man in black and a handsome
officer. Of the black man nothing could be seen but his eyes, two
coals of fire. All the rest was hat and cloak. They say to me,--'The
Sainte-Marthe chamber.'--'Tis my upper chamber, my lords, my cleanest.
They give me a crown. I put the crown in my drawer, and I say: 'This
shall go to buy tripe at the slaughter-house of la Gloriette to-morrow.'
We go up stairs. On arriving at the upper chamber, and while my back is
turned, the black man disappears. That dazed me a bit. The officer, who
was as handsome as a great lord, goes down stairs again with me. He goes
out. In about the time it takes to spin a quarter of a handful of flax,
he returns with a beautiful young girl, a doll who would have shone like
the sun had she been coiffed. She had with her a goat; a big billy-goat,
whether black or white, I no longer remember. That set me to thinking.
The girl does not concern me, but the goat! I love not those beasts,
they have a beard and horns. They are so like a man. And then, they
smack of the witches, sabbath. However, I say nothing. I had the crown.
That is right, is it not, Monsieur Judge? I show the captain and the
wench to the upper chamber, and I leave them alone; that is to say, with
the goat. I go down and set to spinning again--I must inform you that
my house has a ground floor and story above. I know not why I fell to
thinking of the surly monk whom the goat had put into my head again, and
then the beautiful girl was rather strangely decked out. All at once,
I hear a cry upstairs, and something falls on the floor and the window
opens. I run to mine which is beneath it, and I behold a black mass pass
before my eyes and fall into the water. It was a phantom clad like
a priest. It was a moonlight night. I saw him quite plainly. He was
swimming in the direction of the city. Then, all of a tremble, I call
the watch. The gentlemen of the police enter, and not knowing just at
the first moment what the matter was, and being merry, they beat me. I
explain to them. We go up stairs, and what do we find? my poor chamber
all blood, the captain stretched out at full length wit