third year Madame d'Urfe would begin to recover her self-consciousness,
and then I was to begin to initiate her in the perfect knowledge of the
Great Work.

The operation must take place under the full moon during the months of
April, May, or June. Above all, Madame d'Urfe was to make a will in
favour of the child, whose guardian I was to be till its thirteenth year.

This sublime madwoman had no doubts whatever as to the truth of all this,
and burned with impatience to see the virgin who was destined to be the
vessel of election. She begged me to hasten my departure.

I had hoped, in obtaining my answers from the oracle, that she would be
deterred by the prospect of death, and I reckoned on the natural love of
life making her defer the operation for an indefinite period. But such
was not the case, and I found myself obliged to keep my word, in
appearance at all events, and to go on my quest for the mysterious
virgin.

What I wanted was some young hussy whom I could teach the part, and I
thought of the Corticelli. She had been at Prague for the last nine
months, and when we were at Bologna I had promised to come and see her
before the end of the year. But as I was leaving Germany--by no means a
land of pleasant memories to me--I did not think it was worth while going
out of my way for such a trifle in the depth of winter. I resolved to
send her enough money for the journey, and to let her meet me in some
French town.

M. de Fouquet, a friend of Madame d'Urfe's, was Governor of Metz, and I
felt sure that, with a letter of introduction from Madame d'Urfe, this