both into the chafing pan.

"And now all is done as it should be," said the soothsayer. "Comus!"

The dwarf came in.

"See the lady to her coach."

The stranger left a purse upon the table, and followed Comus. He
conducted her and her companion, who was only a confidential maid, down a
back staircase, used as an exit, and leading into a different street from
that by which the two women had come in; but the coachman, who had been
told beforehand of this circumstance, was awaiting them at the door, and
they had only to step into their carriage, which bore them rapidly away
in the direction of the rue Dauphine.

Three days later, according to the promise given her, the fair unknown,
when she awakened, found on the table beside her a letter in an
unfamiliar handwriting; it was addressed "To the beautiful Provencale,"
and contained these words--

"You are young; you are beautiful; you are a widow. This is for the
present.

"You will marry again; you will die young, and by a violent death.
This is for the future.
THE SPIRIT."

The answer was written upon a paper like that upon which the questions
had been set down.