Rivière, he betakes himself to a forest in the vicinity of the château
de Tiffauges. With his servitors Henriet and Poitou, he remains on the
verge of the wood into which the sorcerer penetrates. The night is heavy
and there is no moon. Gilles becomes nervous, scrutinizing the shadows,
listening to the muted sounds of the nocturnal landscape; his
companions, terrified, huddle close together, trembling and whispering
at the slightest stirring of the air. Suddenly a cry of anguish is
raised. They hesitate, then they advance, groping in the darkness. In a
sudden flare of light they perceive de la Rivière trembling and deathly
pale, clutching the handle of his lantern convulsively. In a low voice
he recounts how the Devil has risen in the form of a leopard and rushed
past without looking at the evocator, without saying a word.

The next day the sorcerer vanished, but another arrived. This was a
bungler named Du Mesnil. He required Gilles to sign with blood a deed
binding him to give the Devil all the Devil asked of him "except his
life and soul," but, although to aid the conjurements Gilles consented
to have the Office of the Damned sung in his chapel on All Saints' Day,
Satan did not appear.

The Marshal was beginning to doubt the powers of his magicians, when
the outcome of a new endeavor convinced him that frequently the Devil
does appear.

An evocator whose name has been lost held a séance with Gilles and de
Sillé in a chamber at Tiffauges.

On the ground he traces a great circle and commands his two companions
to step inside it. Sillé refuses. Gripped by a terror which he cannot
explain, he begins to tremble all over. He goes to the window, opens it,