unfortunates whom now he carries ignominiously to the spittel.
Beyond the loss of the soul and eternal damnation there can be no
other disorders, crimes or evils whatsoever in this perishable
world, where one and all is to be ruled and adjusted with regard to
a divine world. Confess, Tournebroche, my boy, that acts the most
reprehensible in the opinion of men can lead to a good end, and do
not try to reconcile the justice of men with the justice of God,
which alone is just, not in our sense but with finality. And now, my
boy, you'll greatly oblige me by looking into Vossius for the
signification of five or six rather obscure words which the
Panopolitan employs, and wherewith one has to do battle in the
darkness of that insidious manner which astonished even the willing
heart of Ajax, as reported by Homer, prince of poets and historians.
These ancient alchemists had a tough style. Manilius, may it not
displease M. d'Asterac, writes on the same subjects with more
elegance."

Hardly had my tutor said these last words when a shadow arose
between him and myself. It was that of M. d'Asterac, or rather it
was M. d'Asterac himself, thin and black like a shadow.

It may be that he had not heard that talk, maybe he disdained it,
for certainly he did not show any kind of resentment. On the
contrary, he congratulated M. Jerome Coignard on his zeal and
knowledge, and further said that he relied on his enlightenment for
the achievement of the greatest work that man had ever attempted.
And turning to me he said:

"Be so good as to come for a moment to my study, where I intend to
make known to you a secret of consequence."