ed
on the one hand, and the "master" by preeminence on the other, the
difference between monseigneur and monsieur, between _domine_ and
_domne_. It was evidently the meeting of a teacher and a disciple.

"Well!" resumed the archdeacon, after a fresh silence which Master
Jacques took good care not to disturb, "how are you succeeding?"

"Alas! master," said the other, with a sad smile, "I am still seeking
the stone. Plenty of ashes. But not a spark of gold."

Dom Claude made a gesture of impatience. "I am not talking to you of
that, Master Jacques Charmolue, but of the trial of your magician. Is it
not Marc Cenaine that you call him? the butler of the Court of Accounts?
Does he confess his witchcraft? Have you been successful with the
torture?"

"Alas! no," replied Master Jacques, still with his sad smile; "we have
not that consolation. That man is a stone. We might have him boiled in
the Marche aux Pourceaux, before he would say anything. Nevertheless, we
are sparing nothing for the sake of getting at the truth; he is already
thoroughly dislocated, we are applying all the herbs of Saint John's
day; as saith the old comedian Plautus,--

_'Advorsum stimulos, laminas, crucesque, compedesque,
Nerros, catenas, carceres, numellas, pedicas, boias_.'

Nothing answers; that man is terrible. I am at my wit's end over him."

"You have found nothing new in his house?"

"I' faith, yes," said Master Jacques, fumbling in his pouch; "this
parchment. There are words in it which we cannot comprehend. The
criminal advocate, Monsieur Philippe Lheulier, nevertheless, knows a
little Hebrew, which he learned in that matter of the Jews of the Rue
Kantersten, at Brussels."

So saying, Master Jacques unrolled a parchment. "Give it here," said the
archdeacon. And casting his eyes upon this writing: "Pure magic, Master
Jacques!" he exclaimed. "'Emen-Hetan!' 'Tis the cry of the vampires
when they arrive at the witches' sabbath. _Per ipsum, et cum ipso, et in
ipso_! 'Tis the command which chains the devil in hell. _Hax, pax, max_!
that refers to medicine. A formula against the bite of mad dogs. Master
Jacques! you are procurator to the king in the Ecclesiastical Courts:
this parchment is abominable."

"We will put the man to the torture once more. Here again," added Master
Jacques, fumbling afresh in his pouch, "is something that we have found
at Marc Cenaine's house."

It was a vessel belonging to the same family as