Volume Ii Part 11 (1/2)
”I have heard enough,” said Sylvestre Ker to Satan.
”And do you still love this Bihan?”
”No: I despise him.”
”And Matheline,--do you love her yet?”
”Yes, oh! yes!... but ... I hate her!”
”I see,” said Satan, ”that you are a coward, and wicked like all men.
Since you have heard and seen enough at a distance, listen, and look at your feet....”
The wall closed with a loud crash of the stones as they came together, and Sylvestre Ker saw that he was surrounded by an enormous heap of gold-pieces, as high as his waist, which gently floated, singing the symphony of riches. All around him was gold, and through the gap in the roof the shower of gold fell, and fell, and fell.
”Am I the master of all this?” asked Sylvestre Ker.
”Yes,” replied Satan; ”you have compelled me, who am gold, to come forth from my caverns; you are therefore the master of gold, provided you purchase it at the price of your soul. You cannot have both G.o.d and gold. You must choose one or the other.”
”I have chosen,” said Sylvestre Ker. ”I keep my soul.”
”You have firmly decided?”
”Irrevocably.”
”Once, twice, ... reflect! You have just acknowledged that you still love the laughing Matheline.”
”And that I hate her.... Yes, ... it is so.... But in eternity I wish to be with my dear mother, Josserande.”
”Were there no mothers,” growled Satan, ”I could play my game much better in the world!”
And he added,--
”For the third time, ... adjudged!”
The heap of gold became as turbulent as the water of a cascade, and leaped and sang; the millions of little sonorous coins clashed against each other, and then all was silent and they vanished.
The room appeared as black as a place where there had been a fire; nothing could be seen but the lurid gleam of Satan's iron body. Then said Sylvestre Ker,--
”Since all is ended, retire!”
VIII.
But the demon did not stir.
”Do you think, then,” he asked, ”that you have brought me hither for nothing? There is the law. You are not altogether my slave, since you have kept your soul; but as you have freely called me, and I have come, you are my va.s.sal. I have a half claim over you. The little children know that; I am astonished at your ignorance.... From midnight to three o'clock in the morning you belong to me, in the form of an animal, restless, roving, complaining, without help from G.o.d. This is what you owe to your strong friend and beautiful bride. Let us settle the affair before I depart. What animal do you wish to be,--roaring lion, bellowing ox, bleating sheep, crowing c.o.c.k? If you become a dog, you can crouch at Matheline's feet, and Bihan can lead you by a leash to hunt in the woods....”
”I wish,” cried Sylvestre Ker, whose anger burst forth at these words, ”I wish to be a wolf, to devour them both!”