; it is the same
with all the men, who only look for laughing girls with teeth like
pearls. But the sorrowful one was Josserande, the widow, when she saw
her son with only one eye and one sound leg.

"Where did all this happen," she asked, with tears.

And as Sylvestre Ker gently answered, "I have seen them, mother; they
are very beautiful," Josserande divined that he spoke of her
god-daughter's two pearls, and cried,--

"By all that is holy, he has also lost his mind!"

Then seizing her staff, she went to the Abbey of Ruiz to consult St.
Gildas as to what could be done in this unfortunate case. And the wise
man replied,--

"You should not have spoken of the two pearls; your son would have
remained at home. But, now that the evil is done, nothing will happen to
him contrary to God's holy will. At high tide the sea comes foaming over
the sands, yet see how quietly it retires. What is Sylvestre Ker doing
now?"

"He is lighting his furnaces," replied Josserande.

The wise man paused to reflect, and after a little while said,--

"In the first place, you must pray devoutly to the Lord our God, and
afterwards look well before you to know where to put your feet. The weak
buy the strong, the unhappy the happy; did you know that, my good woman?
Your son will persevere in search of the fairy-stone that changes lead
into gold, to pay for Pol's wicked friendship and for the pearls behind
the dangerous smiles of that Matheline. Since God permits it, all is
right. Yet see that your son is well protected against the smoke of his
crucible, for it is the very breath of Satan; and make him promise to go
to the midnight Mass."

For it was near the glorious Feast of Christmas.

IV.

Josserande had no difficulty in making Sylvestre Ker promise to go to
the midnight Mass, for he was a good Christian; and she bought for him
an iron armor to put on when he worked around his crucibles, so as to
preserve him from Satan's breath.

And it happened that, late and early, Pol Bihan now came to the tower,
bringing with him the laughing Matheline; for it was rumored that at
last Sylvestre Ker would soon find the fairy-stone and become a wealthy
man.

It was not only two new pearls that Matheline showed at the corners of
her rosy mouth, but a brilliant row that shone, and chattered, and
laughed, from her lips down to her throat; for Pol Bihan had said to
her: "Laugh as much as you can; for smiles attract fools, as the turning
mirror