."

Durtal, looking around this cozy dining-room and recalling the
extraordinary conversations which had been held here, was thinking, "How
far we are from the language and the ideas of modern times.--All that
takes us back to the Middle Ages," he said, finishing his thought aloud.

"Happily!" exclaimed Carhaix, who was rising to go and ring his bells.

"Yes," said Des Hermies, "and what is mighty strange in this day of
crass materialism is the idea of battles fought in space, over the
cities, between a priest of Lyons and prelates of Rome."

"And between this priest and the Rosicrusians and Canon Docre."

Durtal remembered that Mme. Chantelouve had assured him that the chiefs
of the Rosicrucians were making frantic efforts to establish connections
with the devil and prepare spells.

"You think that the Rosicrucians are satanizing?"

"They would like to, but they don't know how. They are limited to
reproducing, mechanically, the few fluidic and veniniferous operations
revealed to them by the three brahmins who visited Paris a few years
ago."

"I am thankful, myself," said Mme. Carhaix, as she took leave of the
company, "that I am not mixed up in any of this frightful business, and
that I can pray and live in peace."

Then while Des Hermies, as usual, prepared the coffee and Durtal brought
the liqueur glasses, Gevingey filled his pipe, and when the sound of the
bells died away--dispersed and as if absorbed by the pores of the
wall--he blew out a great cloud of smoke and said, "I passed some
delightful days with the family with whom Dr. Johannes is living. After
the shocks which I had received, it was a privilege without equal to
complete my convalescence in that sweet atmosphere of Christian Love.
And, too, Johannes is of all men I have ever met the most learned in the
occult sciences. No one, except his antithesis, the abominable Docre,
has penetrated so far into the arcana of Satanism. One may even say that
in France these two are the only ones who have crossed the terrestrial
threshold and obtained, each in his field, sure results. But in addition
to the charm of his conversation and the scope of his knowledge--for
even on the subject in which I excel, that of astrology, he surprised
me--Johannes delighted me with the beauty of his vision of the future
transformation of peoples. He is really, I swear, the prophet whose
earthly mission of suffering and glory has been authorized by the Most
High."

"I don't