, and the fur choir hats with crowns of
squirrel and linings of vair. There are countless sacerdotal ornaments.
We find vermilion altar cloths, curtains of emerald silk, a cope of
velvet, crimson and violet with orpheys of cloth of gold, another of
rose damask, satin dalmatics for the deacons, baldachins figured with
hawks and falcons of Cyprus gold. We find plate, hammered chalices and
ciboria crusted with uncut jewels. There are reliquaries, among them a
silver head of Saint Honore. A mass of sparkling jewelleries which an
artist, installed in the chateau, cuts to order.

"And anyone who came along was welcome. From all corners of France
caravans journeyed toward this chateau where the artist, the poet, the
scholar, found princely hospitality, cordial goodfellowship, gifts of
welcome and largesse at departure.

"Already undermined by the demands which the war had made on it, his
fortune was giving way beneath these expenditures. Now he began to walk
the terrible ways of usury. He borrowed of the most unscrupulous
bourgeois, hypothecated his chateaux, alienated his lands. At times he
was reduced to asking advances on his religious ornaments, on his
jewels, on his books."

"I am glad to see that the method of ruining oneself in the Middle Ages
did not differ sensibly from that of our days," said Des Hermies.
"However, our ancestors did not have Monte Carlo, the notaries, and the
Bourse."

"And _did_ have sorcery and alchemy. A memorial addressed to the king by
the heirs of Gilles de Rais informs us that this immense fortune was
squandered in less than eight years.

"Now it's the signories of Confolens, Chabanes, Chateaumorant, Lombert,
ceded to a captain for a ridiculous price; now it's the fief of Fontaine
Milon, of Angers, the fortress of Saint Etienne de Mer Morte acquired by
Guillaume Le Ferron for a song; again it's the chateaux of Blaison and
of Chemille forfeited to Guillaume de la Jumeliere who never has to pay
a sou. But look, there's a long list of castellanies and forests, salt
mines and farm lands," said Durtal, spreading out a great sheet of paper
on which he had copied the account of the purchases and sales.

"Frightened by his mad course, the family of the Marshal supplicated the
king to intervene, and Charles VII,'sure,' as he said, 'of the
malgovernance of the Sire de Rais,' forbade him, in grand council, by
letters dated 'Amboise, 1436,' to sell or make over any fortress, any
chateau, any land.