ough all these well-guarded
doors?"

Over the countenance of the countess a triumphant smile passed. The
superstitious woman could repel the attack of the scientist.

"Oh, I do not pass through any of them! From my bedroom a secret
staircase leads to the chapel vault. I go down this staircase."

It would have been only natural that the abbe on hearing this should
have proposed to conceal himself in the library, and there await the
countess. But he read the character of his hostess and knew that such
a proposal would have shocked her prudish mind and have offended her
so deeply that, in all probability, she would have refused to listen
any further. She required the most delicate management; this the
quick-seeing abbe recognized perfectly.

"I am still of the same mind," he said, calmly. "I shall knock at your
door this night at twelve o'clock."

At these words the countess was seized with a nervous shudder, but the
abbe went on without taking any notice--

"If you believe that there are unearthly beings who are possessed of
mysterious powers by which they pass through locked doors and make
themselves visible to some human beings, invisible to others, then why
should I not have this power also? But you imagine that because I am
only a man born of dust I cannot infringe the laws of nature. Let me
remind you that there is a natural explanation for all that may seem
to you incomprehensible. Witchcraft is now no longer a mystery. We do
not now burn Boscos and Galuches upon funeral piles. Do not for a
moment think that I am a Bosco or a Paracelsus. I repeat that what I
promise I will perform; at the same hour at which the ghosts begin
their orgies will I knock at your door with the words, _In nomine
Domini aperientur portae fidelium_--'In the name of the Lord may the
doors of the faithful be opened.' Remember, no one but us two is to
know anything of my coming to-night. Till then may the blessing of God
be with you."

Theudelinde was much impressed by her strange visitor. His confidence
infused courage into her weak mind, while his masterful ways
influenced her like a spell. He addressed her from such a superior
height that she felt it would be almost desecration not to place the
utmost faith in his promises, and, nevertheless, he had promised to
perform an impossible thing. How could she reconcile the two, unless,
indeed, she had to do with a being of another world? She saw from the
window the carriage drive away wit