has come down in a straight, unbroken line from that age
to this."

"Oh, no; you don't believe that at this very hour the devil is being
evoked and the black mass celebrated?"

"Yes."

"You are sure?"

"Perfectly."

"You amaze me. But, man! do you know that to witness such things would
aid me signally in my work? No joking, you believe in a contemporary
Satanistic manifestation? You have proofs?"

"Yes, and of them we shall speak later, for today I am very busy.
Tomorrow evening, when we dine with Carhaix. Don't forget. I'll come by
for you. Meanwhile think over the phrase which you applied a moment ago
to the magicians: 'If they had entered the Church they would not have
consented to be anything but cardinals and popes,' and then just think
what kind of a clergy we have nowadays. The explanation of Satanism is
there, in great part, anyway, for without sacrilegious priests there is
no mature Satanism."

"But what do these priests want?"

"Everything!" exclaimed Des Hermies.

"Hmmm. Like Gilles de Rais, who asked the demon for 'knowledge, power,
riches,' all that humanity covets, to be deeded to him by a title signed
with his own blood."

CHAPTER V

"Come right in and get warm. Ah, messieurs, you must not do that any
more," said Mme. Carhaix, seeing Durtal draw from his pocket some
bottles wrapped in paper, while Des Hermies placed on the table some
little packages tied with twine. "You mustn't spend your money on us."

"Oh, but you see we enjoy doing it, Mme. Carhaix. And your husband?"

"He is in the tower. Since morning he has been going from one tantrum
into another."

"My, the cold is terrible today," said Durtal, "and I should think it
would be no fun up there."

"Oh, he isn't grumbling for himself but for his bells. Take off your
things."

They took off their overcoats and came up close to the stove.

"It isn't what you would call hot in here," said Mme. Carhaix, "but to
thaw this place you would have to keep a fire going night and day."

"Why don't you get a portable stove?"

"Oh, heavens! that would asphyxiate us."

"It wouldn't be very comfortable at any rate," said Des Hermies, "for
there is no chimney. You might get some joints of pipe and run them out
of the window, the way you have fixed this tubing. But, speaking of that
kind of apparatus, Durtal, doesn't it seem to you that those hideous
galvanized iron contraptions perfectly typify our utilitarian epoch?

"Just think