rprisingly beautiful. Oh! what
a resplendent figure stood out, like something luminous even in the
sunlight! Alas, young girl, it was thou! Surprised, intoxicated,
charmed, I allowed myself to gaze upon thee. I looked so long that I
suddenly shuddered with terror; I felt that fate was seizing hold of
me."

The priest paused for a moment, overcome with emotion. Then he
continued,--

"Already half fascinated, I tried to cling fast to something and hold
myself back from falling. I recalled the snares which Satan had already
set for me. The creature before my eyes possessed that superhuman beauty
which can come only from heaven or hell. It was no simple girl made with
a little of our earth, and dimly lighted within by the vacillating ray
of a woman's soul. It was an angel! but of shadows and flame, and not of
light. At the moment when I was meditating thus, I beheld beside you a
goat, a beast of witches, which smiled as it gazed at me. The midday sun
gave him golden horns. Then I perceived the snare of the demon, and I no
longer doubted that you had come from hell and that you had come thence
for my perdition. I believed it."

Here the priest looked the prisoner full in the face, and added,
coldly,--

"I believe it still. Nevertheless, the charm operated little by little;
your dancing whirled through my brain; I felt the mysterious spell
working within me. All that should have awakened was lulled to sleep;
and like those who die in the snow, I felt pleasure in allowing this
sleep to draw on. All at once, you began to sing. What could I do,
unhappy wretch? Your song was still more charming than your dancing. I
tried to flee. Impossible. I was nailed, rooted to the spot. It seemed
to me that the marble of the pavement had risen to my knees. I was
forced to remain until the end. My feet were like ice, my head was on
fire. At last you took pity on me, you ceased to sing, you disappeared.
The reflection of the dazzling vision, the reverberation of the
enchanting music disappeared by degrees from my eyes and my ears. Then I
fell back into the embrasure of the window, more rigid, more feeble than
a statue torn from its base. The vesper bell roused me. I drew myself
up; I fled; but alas! something within me had fallen never to rise
again, something had come upon me from which I could not flee."

He made another pause and went on,--

"Yes, dating from that day, there was within me a man whom I did not
know. I tried to make u