bodily mortification. Every
hour would find him at the altar before the Virgin, missal in hand,
_and eyes intent on the glittering image_. This incessant and
unwatched devotion, he calculated, would enable him in two months to
take an impression of all the locks in the _sacristy_; and, as his
confederate would call every market-day at the convent gate, in the
guise of a pedler, he could easily cause the keys to be fabricated in
different villages by common locksmiths.

Germaine considered it indispensable that his colleague in this
enterprise should be _a sailor_; for the flight with booty was to be
made over sea from Ancona. As soon, therefore, as the keys were
perfected, and in the hands of the impostor, the mariner was to cause
a _felucca_, to cruise off shore, in readiness for immediate
departure. Then, at a fixed time, the pedler should lurk near the
convent, with a couple of mules; and, in the dead of night, the
sacrilege would be accomplished.

When he finished his story, the pleasant villain, rubbed his hands
with glee, and skipping about the floor like a dancing-master, began
to whistle "_La Marsellaise_." That night, he retired earlier than
usual, "to polish," as he said; but before dawn he again aroused me,
with a pull, and whispered a sudden fear that his "Loretto
masterpiece" would prove an abortion!

"I have considered," said he, "that the Virgin's jewels are probably
nothing but false stones and waxen pearls in pinchbeck gold! Surely,
those cunning monks would never leave such an amount of property idle,
simply to adorn a picture or statue! No, I am positive they must have
sold the gems, substituted imitations, and bought property for their
opulent convents!"--As I felt convinced of this fact, and had some
inkling of a recollection about losses during a former reign, I was
happy to hear that the swindler's fancy had "polished" the crime to
absolute annihilation.

And now that I am about to leave this forging philosopher in prison,
to mature, doubtless, some greater act of villany, I will merely add,
that when I departed, he was constructing a new scheme, in which the
Emperor of Russia was to be victim and paymaster. As my liberation
occurred before the finishing touches were given by the artist, I am
unable to say how it fared with Nicholas; but I doubt, exceedingly,
whether the galleys of Brest contained a greater scoundrel, both in
deeds and imaginings, than the metaphysical dandy--Monsieur
Germa