mont. The corpse had evidently been carefully embalmed, and the features were unchanged by decay. Upon the breast, with the hands placed over it, lay a large book, bound in black vellum, and fastened with brazen clasps. Instantly possessing himself of this mysteriouslooking volume, Rougemont knelt upon the nearest chest, and opened it. But he was disappointed in his expectation. All the pages he examined were filled with cabalistic characters, which he was totally unable to decipher.

At length, however, he chanced upon one page, the import of which he comprehended, and he remained for some time absorbed in its contemplation, while an almost fiendish smile played upon his features.

"Aha!" he exclaimed, closing the volume. "I see now the cause of my extraordinary dream. My ancestor's wondrous power was of infernal origin-the result, in fact, of a compact with the Prince of Darkness. But what care I for that? Give me wealth-no matter what source it comes from!-ha! ha!"

And seizing the lever, he broke open the chest beside him. It was filled with bars of silver. The next he visited in the same way was full of gold. The third was laden with pearls and precious stones; and the rest contained treasure to an incalculable amount. Rougemont gazed at them in transports of joy.

"At length I have my wish," he cried. "Boundless wealth, and therefore boundless power is mine. I can riot in pleasure-riot in vengeance. As to my soul, I will run the risk of its perdition; but it shall go hard if I destroy not that of Auriol. His love of play and his passion of Edith Talbot shall be the means by which I will work. But I must not neglect another agent which is offered me. That bottle, I have learnt from yon volume, contains an infernal potion, which, without destroying life, shatters the brain, and creates maddening fancies. It will well serve my purpose; and I thank thee, Satan, for the gift.”

II.

THE COMPACT.

ABOUT two months after this occurrence, and near midnight, a young man was hurrying along Pall Mall, with a look of the wildest despair, when his headlong course was suddenly arrested by a strong grasp, while a familiar voice sounded in his ear.

แ

"It is useless to meditate self-destruction, Auriol Darcy," cried the person who had checked him. If you find life a burden, I can make it tolerable to you."

Turning round at the appeal, Auriol beheld a tall man, wrapped in a long black cloak, whose sinister features were well known to him. "Leave me, Rougemont!" he cried, fiercely. "I want no societyabove all, not yours. You know very well that you have ruined me, and that nothing more is to be got from me. Leave me, I say, or I may do you a mischief."

"Tut, tut, Auriol, I am your friend!" replied Rougemont. "I propose to relieve distress." your

66

"Will you give me back the money you have won from me?" cried Auriol. Will you pay my inexorable creditors? Will you save me from a prison ?"

"I will do all this, and more," replied Rougemont. "I will make you one of the richest men in London."

"Spare your insulting jests, sir," cried Auriol. "I am in no mood to bear them."

"I am not jesting," rejoined Rougement. "Come with me, and you shall be convinced of my sincerity.

Auriol, at length, assented, and they turned into Saint James's Square, and paused before a magnificent house. Rougemont ascended the steps. Auriol, who had accompanied him almost mechanically, gazed at him with astonishment.

"Do you live here?" he inquired.

"Ask no questions," replied Rougemont, knocking at the door, which was instantly opened by a hall porter, while other servants in rich liveries appeared at a distance. Rougemont addressed a few words in an undertone to them, and they instantly bowed respectfully to Auriol, while the foremost of them led the way up a magnificent staircase.

All this was a mystery to the young man, but he followed his conductor without a word, and was presently ushered into a gorgeouslyfurnished and brilliantly-illuminated apartment.

The servant then left them; and as soon as he was gone, Auriol exclaimed-" Is it to mock me that you have brought me hither?”

"To mock you-no," replied Rougemont. "I have told you that I mean to make you rich. But you look greatly exhausted. A glass of wine will revive you."

And as he spoke, he stepped towards a small cabinet, and took from it a curiously-shaped bottle and a goblet.

"Taste this wine-it has been long in our family," he added, filling the cup.

"It is a strange, bewildering drink," cried Auriol, setting down the empty goblet, and passing his hand before his eyes.

"You have taken it upon an empty stomach-that is all," said Rougement. "You will be better anon.'

"I feel as if I were going mad," cried Auriol. damnable potion you have given me."

"It is some

"Ha! ha!" laughed Rougemont. "It reminds you of the elixir you once quaffed-eh!"

"A truce to this raillery!" cried Auriol, angrily. "I have said I am no mood to bear it."

"Pshaw! I mean no offence," rejoined the other, changing his manner. "What think you of this house?"

"That it is magnificent," replied Auriol, gazing around. "I envy you its possession."

"It shall be yours, if you please," replied Rougemont.

"Mine! you are mocking me again."

"Not in the least. You shall buy it from me if you please."

"At what price?" asked Auriol, bitterly.

"At a price you can easily pay," replied the other.

"Come this

way, and we will conclude the bargain."

Proceeding towards the further end of the room, they entered a small exquisitely-furnished chamber, surrounded with sofas of the most luxurious description. In the midst was a table, on which writing materials were placed.

"It were a fruitless boon to give you this house, without the means of living in it," said Rougemont, carefully closing the door. "This pocket-book will furnish you with them."

"Notes to an immense amount !" cried Auriol, opening the pocketbook, and glancing at its contents.

"They are yours, together with the house," cried Rougemont, "if you will but sign a compact with me."

"A compact!" cried Auriol, regarding him with a look of undefinable terror. "Who, and what are you ?"

"Some men would call me the devil!" replied Rougemont, carelessly. "But you know me too well to suppose that I merit such a designation. I offer you wealth. What more could you require ?" "But upon what terms?" demanded Auriol.

"The easiest imaginable," replied the other. "You shall judge for yourself."

And as he spoke, he opened a writing-desk upon the table, and took from it a parchment.

"Sit down," he added, "and read this."

Auriol complied, and as he scanned the writing he became transfixed with fear and astonishment, while the pocket-book dropped from his grasp.

After a while, he looked up at Rougemont, who was leaning over his shoulder, and whose features were wrinkled with a derisive smile. "Then you are the Fiend?" he cried.

"If you will have it so-certainly," replied the other.

"You are Satan in the form of the man I once knew," cried Auriol. "Avaunt! I will have no dealings with you."

"I thought you wiser than to indulge in such idle fears, Darcy," rejoined the other. "Granting even your silly notion of me to be correct, why need you be alarmed? You are immortal."

"True," rejoined Auriol, thoughtfully, "but yet

"Pshaw!" rejoined the other, "sign, and have done with the mat

ter."

"By this compact, I am bound to deliver a victim-a female victim -whenever you shall require it," cried Auriol.

"Precisely," replied the other, "you can have no difficulty in fulfilling that condition."

"But if I fail in doing so, I am doomed-"

"But you will not fail," interrupted the other, lighting a taper, and sealing the parchment. "Now sign it."

Auriol mechanically took the pen, and gazed fixedly on the docu

ment.

"I shall bring eternal destruction on myself if I sign it," he muttered.

"A stroke of the pen will rescue you from utter ruin," said Rougemont, leaning over his shoulder. "Riches and happiness are yours.

You will not have such another chance."