marry her at
the proper time to any person he chose, or to himself if he liked it
better. This man entered into the new plans of his master with great zeal,
and introduced to him one Prelati, an alchymist of Padua, and a physician
of Poitou, who was addicted to the same pursuits.

The marshal caused a splendid laboratory to be fitted up for them, and the
three commenced the search for the philosopher's stone. They were soon
afterwards joined by another pretended philosopher, named Anthony Palermo,
who aided in their operations for upwards of a year. They all fared
sumptuously at the marshal's expense, draining him of the ready money he
possessed, and leading him on from day to day with the hope that they
would succeed in the object of their search. From time to time new
aspirants from the remotest parts of Europe arrived at his castle, and for
months he had upwards of twenty alchymists at work, trying to transmute
copper into gold; and wasting the gold which was still his own in drugs
and elixirs.

But the Lord of Rays was not a man to abide patiently their lingering
processes. Pleased with their comfortable quarters, they jogged on from
day to day, and would have done so for years, had they been permitted. But
he suddenly dismissed them all, with the exception of the Italian Prelati,
and the physician of Poitou. These he retained to aid him to discover the
secret of the philosopher's stone by a bolder method. The Poitousan had
persuaded him that the devil was the great depository of that and all
other secrets, and that he would raise him before Gilles, who might enter
into any contract he pleased with him. Gilles expressed his readiness, and
promised to give the devil any thing but his soul, or do any deed that the
arch-enemy might impose upon him. Attended solely by the physician, he
proceeded at midnight to a wild-looking place in a neighbouring forest;
the physician drew a magic circle around them on the sward, and muttered
for half an hour an invocation to the evil spirit to arise at his bidding,
and disclose the secrets of alchymy. Gilles looked on with intense
interest, and expected every moment to see the earth open, and deliver to
his gaze the great enemy of mankind. At last the eyes of the physician
became fixed, his hair stood on end, and he spoke, as if addressing the
fiend. But Gilles saw nothing except his companion. At last the physician
fell down on the sward as if insensible. Gilles looked calmly on to