ained his
hotel.

"The next day he was faithful to the rendezvous. He arrived in the
square as the church-clock was striking eleven. He saw the masked woman
standing waiting for him on the steps of the entrance.

"'It is well,' said she. 'You are punctual: let us enter.' So speaking,
she turned immediately toward the church.

"Franz, who saw that the door was shut, and knew that it was never
opened at night, thought the woman was mad. But what was his surprise at
seeing the door yield to her first effort! He mechanically followed his
guide, who quickly reclosed the door after he had entered. They then
found themselves in darkness, but Franz, remembering that a second door
without a lock still separated them from the nave, felt no uneasiness,
and prepared to push it before him in order to enter. But she stopped
him by a pressure of the arm. 'Have you ever come into this church?' she
asked him abruptly.

"'Twenty times,' he answered. 'I know it as well as the architect who
built it.'

"'Say you think you know it, for you do not really know it yet. Enter!'

"Franz pushed the second door, and they penetrated into the interior of
the church. It was magnificently lighted on all sides, but completely
empty.

"'What ceremony is to be performed here?' asked Franz, stupefied.

"'None: the church expected me to-night: that is all. Follow me.'

"The count vainly tried to understand the meaning of the words the Mask
addressed to him, but, subjugated by a mysterious power, he followed her
obediently. She led him into the middle of the church, made him notice,
understand and admire its general architecture; then, passing to the
examination of each part, she explained to him in detail, by turns, the
nave, the colonnades, the chapels, the altars, the statues, the
pictures, all the ornaments; showed him the meaning of everything,
disclosed to him the idea hidden beneath each form, made him feel all
the beauties of the works which composed the whole, and caused him to
penetrate, so to speak, into the very entrails of the church. Franz
listened with religious attention to all the words of the eloquent mouth
which was pleased to instruct him, and from minute to minute recognized
how little he had comprehended this ensemble of works which had seemed
to him so easy to understand. When she finished the rays of morning,
penetrating through the window-panes, caused the light of the tapers to
pale. Although she had spoken for several h