e
devil."

Dame Margaret spoke seriously; she was merely giving expression to the
common belief in relics entertained, not only by ignorant peasants but
by the highest nobility and the great mass of the population, a belief
encouraged by the priests, who thus secured a sure market for their own
manufactures. The excellent Elector Frederick, who became one of the
great champions of the Reformation, had a short time before employed
several dignitaries of the Church to collect relics for him, and had
purchased a considerable number for very large sums. In the war between
France and Spain, every Spanish soldier who was killed or taken prisoner
was found to have a relic round his neck with a certificate from the
priest who had sold it, that it would render his body invulnerable to
the bullets or swords of the enemy. There is a very considerable sale
of such articles, even to the present day, in Roman Catholic countries.
Eric was therefore well aware of the value his mother would attach to
the one she desired to bestow on him, yet he had already imbibed too
large a portion of truth from the writings of Dr Luther and others, and
the portions of Scripture he had read, not to look on the imposition
with the contempt it deserved; still he was too dutiful a son to treat
his mother's offer with disrespect. He thought a minute or more, and
then replied slowly--

"I will not take your relic, mother, for I am already provided with a
protection which will be sufficient for all the dangers I am likely to
encounter. I will say nothing now as to the relic. When I have been to
Wittemburg I may be able to tell you something more of its actual
value."

Nothing that Dame Margaret could say would induce him to take the
article. On repeating the conversation with her son to Father Nicholas,
she expressed a hope that Eric was not possessed of an evil spirit,
which had induced him so pertinaciously to refuse the proffered gift.

Father Nicholas bit his lip, frowned, said he could not say, it might
possibly be an embryo one, such as had clearly entered into Dr Martin
and many other persons at that time. It would certainly be safe to
exorcise him, but the difficulty would be to get so obstinate a young
man as Eric to submit to the operation. He would think about it, and
try and devise some means by which the ceremony might be performed
without the patient having the power to resist.

This promise afforded a considerable amount of com