It is a great sin to create in such a way creatures who cannot be
baptised and who never could have a part in the eternal blessings.
You cannot suppose that M. d'Asterac carried those grotesque figures
to a priest in their bottles to hold them over the christening font.
No godmother could have been found for them."

"But, my dear mamma," I replied, "the dolls of M. d'Asterac were not
in want of christening, they had no participation in original sin."

"I never thought of that," said my mother. "And Cadette Saint-Avit
herself did not mention it, although she was the servant of a
rector. Unhappily she left Gascony when quite young, came to France
and had no more news of M. d'Asterac, of his bottles and his
puppets. I sincerely hope, my dear Jacquot, that he renounced his
wicked works, which could not be accomplished without the help of
the devil."

I asked:

"Tell me, my dear mother, did Cadette Saint-Avit, the rector's
servant, see the bodies in the bottles with her own eyes?"

"No, my dear child; M. d'Asterac kept his dolls very secret and did
not show them to anybody. But she heard of them from a churchman of
the name of Fulgence, who haunted the castle, and swore he had seen
those little creatures step out of their glass prisons and dance a
minuet. And she had every reason to believe it. It is possible to
doubt of what one sees, but you cannot doubt the word of an honest
man, especially when he belongs to the Church. There is another
misfortune with such secret practices, they are extremely costly and