Madame d'Urfe, she discovered herself--and I took care not to contradict
her--that the Countess Lascaris had gone mad. I encouraged her fears, and
succeeded in making her obtain from a cabalistic pyramid the statement
that the reason the princess had not conceived was that she had been
defiled by an evil genius--an enemy of the Fraternity of the Rosy Cross.
This put Madame d'Urfe fairly on the way, and she added on her own
account that the girl must be with child by a gnome.

She then erected another pyramid to obtain guidance on our quest, and I
so directed things that the answer came that she must write to the moon.

This mad reply, which should have brought her to her senses, only made
her more crazy than ever. She was quite ecstatic, and I am sure that if I
had endeavoured to shew her the nothingness of all this I show have had
nothing for my trouble. Her conclusion would probably have been that I
was possessed by an evil spirit, and was no longer a true Rosy Cross. But
I had no idea of undertaking a cure which would have done me harm and her
no 'good. Her chimerical notions made her happy, and the cold naked truth
would doubtless have made her unhappy.

She received the order to write to the moon with the greater delight as
she knew what ceremonies were to be observed in addressing that planet;
but she could not dispense with the assistance of an adept, and I knew
she would reckon on me. I told her I should always be ready to serve her,
but that, as she knew herself, we should have to wait for the first phase
of the new moon. I was very glad to gain time, for I had lost heavily at
play, and I could not leave Aix-la-Chapelle before a bill, which I had
drawn on M. d'O. of Amsterdam, was cashed. In the mean time we agreed
that as the Countess Lascaris had become mad, we must not pay any
attention to what she might say, as the words would not be hers but would