he wounded man fainted away; nothing more could be got from him. In
the meantime the prince turned towards the principal officer of the
watch, giving him at the same time some pieces of gold. "You have
rescued us," said he, "from the hands of an impostor, and done us
justice without even knowing who we were; would you increase our
gratitude by telling us the name of the stranger who, by speaking
only a few words, was able to procure us our liberty."

"Whom do you mean?" inquired the party addressed, with an air which
plainly showed that the question was useless.

"The gentleman in a Russian uniform, who took you aside, showed you a
written paper, and whispered a few words, in consequence of which you
immediately set us free."

"Do not you know the gentleman? Was he not one of your company?"

"No," answered the prince; "and I have very important reasons for
wishing to be more intimately acquainted with him."

"I know very little of him myself. Even his name is unknown to me, and
I saw him to-day for the first time in my life."

"How? And was he in so short a time, and by using only a few words,
able to convince you both of our innonocence and his own?"

"Undoubtedly, with a single word."

"And this was? I confess I wish to know it."

"This stranger, my prince," said the officer, weighing the zechins in
his band,--"you have been too generous for me to make a secret of it any
longer,--this stranger is an officer of the Inquisition."

"Of the Inquisition? This man?"

"He is, indeed, gracious prince. I was convinced of it by the paper
which he showed to me."

"This man, did you say? That cannot be."

"I will tell your highness more. It was upon his information that I
have been sent here to arrest the sorcerer."

We looked at each other in the utmost astonishment.

"Now we know," said the English lord at length, "why the poor devil of a
sorcerer started in such a terror when he looked more closely into his
face. He knew him to be a spy, and that is why he uttered that shriek,
and fell down before him."

"No!" interrupted the prince. "This man is whatever he wishes to be,
and whatever the moment requires him to be. No mortal ever knew what he
really was. Did you not see the knees of the Sicilian sink under him,
when he said, with that terrible voice: 'Thou shalt summon no more
ghosts?' There is something inexplicable in this matter. No person can
persuade me that one man should be thus alarmed at the sight o