ne caring to
touch it; but at the end of that time, having grown accustomed to its
presence, and gradually less and less in awe of it, they lodged it in
the coach-house; and so, after a considerable time, the old usurer's
instincts prevailed, and he resolved to make trial of the vehicle, with
a view to sell it in Paris. At first the horses snorted, and reared, and
shyed, when they were attempted to be harnessed to it, but in a little
while they too became reconciled to it, and Monsieur Le Prun made an
experimental trip in it himself. Whatever passed upon that occasion, it
certainly determined him against parting with it. And, it was said,
whenever he was thenceforward in doubt about any purchase, or meditating
any important financial _coup_, he invariably took a solitary drive in
this preternaturally-acquired vehicle; and, in the course of that drive,
his doubts, whatever they may have been, were invariably resolved, and
some lucky purchase or successful operation upon 'Change was sure to
follow. It was said that upon these occasions Monsieur Le Prun was
always heard to converse with some companion in the coach; and the
driver once avowed that, having been delayed by an accident on the road,
as the darkness came on, he distinctly saw two shadowy outriders
spurring duly in their van, and never lost sight of them until, with
hair standing on end, and bathed in a cold sweat, he drew up in the
court before his master's house."

"And what happened to old Le Prun?"

"When they returned from one of their drives, taken, Heaven bless us!
for the purpose of consulting the Evil One, so to speak, face to face,
they found old Le Prun quite dead, sitting back in his wonted attitude,
and with his arm slung in the embroidered strap."

"And what has become of the wonderful coach?"

"That I have never heard; but they say that Monsieur Le Prun, the
fermier-general, has it in one of his houses, either in the country or
in Paris, and that, whenever he wants to consult the familiar demon of
the family, he takes a drive in it alone; and this, they say, has been
the cause of his great successes and his enormous fortune."

"I should like to ride in that coach myself," said Lucille.

"Heaven and all the saints forbid!"

"I want to know my destiny, Marguerite. Were I sure that all my days
were to pass as at present, I would rather die than live."

"Oh, but sure my pretty bird would not ask her fortune of--of--"

"Yes, of any one--of any