strangely with the deadly pallor of his cheeks. A straggling grey
moustache and beard partly concealed his mouth, which was set in a
smile half mirthful and half sardonic. I put him down as the cure of a
neighbouring hamlet, as he gave us the benediction, and invited us to
join him, saying as he did so:

"Mademoiselle, I have long looked in dreamland for the lady who would
be chosen above all others as Abbess of Thelema--and now, behold! you
have come!" Plucking a rose as he spoke he bowed with old-world grace,
and held it out with a shaking hand to Diane, who took it with a flush
on her face, and thanks on her lips, but a puzzled look in her eyes.

"I see, Monsieur le Cure," I said, "you are an admirer of Doctor
Rabelais."

"He is the most intimate friend I have, and, as you are doubtless
aware, the Doctor is a townsman of Chinon."

"That, perhaps, is his book you are reading?"

"Alas, no! 'tis merely a Hebrew lexicon I was studying to decide a
dispute I have with my friend Doctor Johannes Caballus of the
University of Orange; but--you are learned in Hebrew, monsieur?"

"I cannot say I am," I laughed, "though we meet on common ground in
admiration of Rabelais."

"In that case, monsieur, you and mademoiselle must be my guests at
dinner. It is almost the hour, and we will dine here." And without
waiting for a reply he seized a small handbell that lay beside him and
rang it. In a little the host appeared, and the cure turned to him:

"Is dinner, as I ordered it, ready?"

"Monsieur!"

"Then serve it here, and set the table for four. Mayhap the Doctor
Johannes Caballus may join us. Let me see what there is for dinner.
Ah! three sucking-pigs, and a fourth to follow in quince sauce, six
capons, twelve pigeons, twelve quails, four legs of mutton _en brune
pate_, twelve sweetbreads, four tongues, four veal----"

But the landlord had fled, and Diane was staring with wide-open eyes,
whilst I confess I thought that we had a harmless lunatic before us.

"Perhaps, monsieur, we have Gargantua dining with us?"

"That would be but a flea-bite to him. But there is the Doctor
Caballus." And pushing aside the roses he pointed before him; all we
could see was a sleek mule sunning itself in a patch of green.

"There is only a mule there," said Diane.

"True; but he is a Doctor of Laws of the University of Orange. I must
tell you that the estimable beast is the property of Doctor Rabelais,
who permits me to use h