be trying to be a dandy when he
was too old even to know that he was old. Ye he was decidedly a handsome
figure with his curled yellow hair and lean fastidious face; and he wore
a peculiar frock-coat of bright turquoise blue, with an unknown order
pinned to it, and he carried a huge and heavy cane. Despite his silence
and his dandified dress and whiskers, the island might never have heard
of him but for the extraordinary event of which I have spoken, which
fell about in the following way:

In such casual atmospheres only the enthusiastic go to Benediction; and
as the warm blue twilight closed over the little candle-lit church and
village, the line of worshippers who went home from the former to the
latter thinned out until it broke. On one such evening at least no one
was in church except the quiet, unconquerable Madeleine, four old women,
one fisherman, and, of course, the irrepressible M. Camille Bert. The
others seemed to melt away afterwards into the peacock colours of the
dim green grass and the dark blue sky. Even Durand was invisible instead
of being merely reverentially remote; and Madeleine set forth through
the patch of black forest alone. She was not in the least afraid of
loneliness, because she was not afraid of devils. I think they were
afraid of her.

In a clearing of the wood, however, which was lit up with a last patch
of the perishing sunlight, there advanced upon her suddenly one who was
more startling than a devil. The incomprehensible Count Gregory, with
his yellow hair like flame and his face like the white ashes of the
flame, was advancing bareheaded towards her, flinging out his arms and
his long fingers with a frantic gesture.

"We are alone here," he cried, "and you would be at my mercy, only that
I am at yours."

Then his frantic hands fell by his sides and he looked up under his
brows with an expression that went well with his hard breathing.
Madeleine Durand had come to a halt at first in childish wonder, and
now, with more than masculine self-control, "I fancy I know your face,
sir," she said, as if to gain time.

"I know I shall not forget yours," said the other, and extended once
more his ungainly arms in an unnatural gesture. Then of a sudden there
came out of him a spout of wild and yet pompous phrases. "It is as well
that you should know the worst and the best. I am a man who knows no
limit; I am the most callous of criminals, the most unrepentant of
sinners. There is no man in m