ed hard to impress every body with as full a belief in his
extraordinary powers as she felt herself; but as a female interpreter of
the rank and appearance of Madame Blavary did not exactly correspond with
the count's notions either of dignity or decorum, he hired a person named
Vitellini, a teacher of languages, to act in that capacity. Vitellini was
a desperate gambler, a man who had tried almost every resource to repair
his ruined fortunes, including among the rest the search for the
philosopher's stone. Immediately that he saw the count's operations, he
was convinced that the great secret was his, and that the golden gates of
the palace of fortune were open to let him in. With still more enthusiasm
than Madame Blavary, he held forth to his acquaintance, and in all public
places, that the count was an extraordinary man, a true adept, whose
fortune was immense, and who could transmute into pure and solid gold as
much lead, iron, and copper as he pleased. The consequence was, that the
house of Cagliostro was besieged by crowds of the idle, the credulous, and
the avaricious, all eager to obtain a sight of the "philosopher," or to
share in the boundless wealth which he could call into existence.

Unfortunately for Cagliostro, he had fallen into evil hands. Instead of
duping the people of England, as he might have done, he became himself the
victim of a gang of swindlers, who, with the fullest reliance on his
occult powers, only sought to make money of him. Vitellini introduced to
him a ruined gambler like himself, named Scot, whom he represented as a
Scottish nobleman, attracted to London solely by his desire to see and
converse with the extraordinary man whose fame had spread to the distant
mountains of the north. Cagliostro received him with great kindness and
cordiality; and "Lord" Scot thereupon introduced a woman named Fry as Lady
Scot, who was to act as chaperone to the Countess di Cagliostro, and make
her acquainted with all the noble families of Britain. Thus things went
swimmingly. "His lordship," whose effects had not arrived from Scotland,
and who had no banker in London, borrowed two hundred pounds of the count.
They were lent without scruple, so flattered was Cagliostro by the
attentions they paid him, the respect, nay veneration they pretended to
feel for him, and the complete deference with which they listened to every
word that fell from his lips.

Superstitious like all desperate gamesters, Scot had often