.

"I have reason," answered Mercurius, "having, for a long period, had the
acquaintance of his reverence, your brother; but you have little chance
with him."

"And why?" said Sir Rollo.

"He is under a bond to my master, never to say a prayer, or else his
soul and his body are forfeited at once."

"Why, thou false and traitorous devil!" said the enraged knight; "and
thou knewest this when we made our wager?"

"Undoubtedly: do you suppose I would have done so had there been any
chance of losing?"

And with this they arrived at Father Ignatius's door.

"Thy cursed presence threw a spell on my niece, and stopped the tongue
of my nephew's chaplain; I do believe that had I seen either of them
alone, my wager had been won."

"Certainly; therefore, I took good care to go with thee: however, thou
mayest see the prior alone, if thou wilt; and lo! his door is open. I
will stand without for five minutes, when it will be time to commence
our journey."

It was the poor Baron's last chance: and he entered his brother's room
more for the five minutes' respite than from any hope of success.

Father Ignatius, the prior, was absorbed in magic calculations: he stood
in the middle of a circle of skulls, with no garment except his long
white beard, which reached to his knees; he was waving a silver rod, and
muttering imprecations in some horrible tongue.

But Sir Rollo came forward and interrupted his incantation. "I am," said
he, "the shade of thy brother Roger de Rollo; and have come, from pure
brotherly love, to warn thee of thy fate."

"Whence camest thou?"

"From the abode of the blessed in Paradise," replied Sir Roger, who was
inspired with a sudden thought; "it was but five minutes ago that the
Patron Saint of thy church told me of thy danger, and of thy wicked
compact with the fiend. 'Go,' said he, 'to thy miserable brother, and
tell him there is but one way by which he may escape from paying the
awful forfeit of his bond.'"

"And how may that be?" said the prior; "the false fiend hath deceived
me; I have given him my soul, but have received no worldly benefit in
return. Brother! dear brother! how may I escape?"

"I will tell thee. As soon as I heard the voice of blessed St. Mary
Lazarus" (the worthy Earl had, at a pinch, coined the name of a saint),
"I left the clouds, where, with other angels, I was seated, and sped
hither to save thee. 'Thy brother,' said the Saint, 'hath but one day
more to live, when he wil