er to effect the transmutation, and these he obligingly offered to
search for, provided the Lord of Retz furnished the means for his
travels. This Gilles gladly did, and of course never beheld the
Poitevin knave again.

Days and months passed and the physician did not return. Gilles grew
uneasy. It was imperative that gold should be forthcoming immediately,
for not only was he being pressed on every side, but he was unable to
support his usual magnificence. In this dilemma he turned to Prelati,
his remaining alchemical assistant. This man appears to have believed
in his art or he would not have made the terrible suggestion he did,
which was that the Lord of Retz should sign with his own blood a
compact with the Devil, and should offer up a young child in sacrifice
to him. To this proposal the unhappy Gilles consented. On the
following night Prelati quitted the castle, and returned shortly
afterward with the story that the fiend had appeared to him in the
likeness of a young man who desired to be called Barron, and had
pointed out to him the resting-place of a hoard of ingots of pure
gold, buried under an oak in the neighbouring wood. Certain
conditions, however, must be observed before the treasure was dug up,
the chief of which was that it must not be searched for until a period
of seven times seven weeks had elapsed, or it would turn into slates.
With these conditions de Retz would not comply, and, alarmed at his
annoyance, the obliging Prelati curtailed the time of waiting to seven
times seven days. At the end of that period the alchemist and his dupe
repaired to the wood to dig up the treasure. They worked hard for some
time, and at length came upon a load of slates, inscribed with magical
characters. Prelati pretended great wrath, and upbraided the Evil One
for his deceit, in which denunciation he was heartily joined by de
Retz. But so credulous was the Seigneur that he allowed himself to be
persuaded to afford Satan another trial, which meant, of course, that
Prelati led him on from day to day with specious promises and
ambiguous hints, until he had drained him of nearly all his remaining
substance. He was then preparing to decamp with his plunder when a
dramatic incident detained him.

[Illustration: THE DEVIL IN THE FORM OF A LEOPARD APPEARS BEFORE THE
ALCHEMIST]

For some time a rumour had been circulating in the country-side that
numerous children were missing and that they had been spirited away.
Popular