There was a change in the cashier's appearance. A strange pallor
overspread his once rubicund countenance; it wore the peculiarly
sinister and stony look of the mysterious visitor. The sullen glare of
his eyes was intolerable, the fierce light in them seemed to scorch.
The man who had looked so good-humored and good-natured had suddenly
grown tyrannical and proud. The courtesan thought that Castanier had
grown thinner; there was a terrible majesty in his brow; it was as if
a dragon breathed forth a malignant influence that weighed upon the
others like a close, heavy atmosphere. For a moment Aquilina knew not
what to do.

"What has passed between you and that diabolical-looking man in those
few minutes?" she asked at length.

"I have sold my soul to him. I feel it; I am no longer the same. He
has taken my _self_, and given me his soul in exchange."

"What?"

"You would not understand it at all. . . . Ah! he was right,"
Castanier went on, "the fiend was right! I see everything and know all
things.--You have been deceiving me!"

Aquilina turned cold with terror. Castanier lighted a candle and went
into the dressing-room. The unhappy girl followed him with dazed
bewilderment, and great was her astonishment when Castanier drew the
dresses that hung there aside and disclosed the sergeant.

"Come out, my boy," said the cashier; and, taking Leon by a button of