Page 131 (1/1)

And he fell back in his areau watched hied his shoulders imperceptibly, and repeated in a low voice,-"A eau suddenly, "the wondrous result,-- have you attained it, have you old?"

"If I hadhis words slowly, like aof France would be naer frowned

"What a?" resumed Dom Claude, with a smile of disdain "What would the throne of France be to ood!" said the stranger

"Oh, the poor fool!"to reply now only to his thoughts,-"But no, I aainst the pebbles of the subterranean pathway I catch a glimpse, I do not contemplate! I do not read, I spell out!"

"And when you kno to read!" deold?"

"Who doubts it?" said the archdeacon

"In that case Our Lady knows that I areatly in need of money, and I should much desire to read in your books Tellto Our Lady?"

"Whose archdeacon I a, with tranquil hauteur

"That is true, my master Well! will it please you to initiate me? Let me spell with you"

Claude assumed the majestic and pontifical attitude of a Saer years than res Your head is very gray! One comes forth from the cavern only hite hair, but only those with dark hair enter it Science alone knoell how to holloither, and dry up hu her faces already furrowed Nevertheless, if the desire possesses you of putting yourself under discipline at your age, and of deciphering the fores, come to me; 'tis well, I will o and visit the sepulchral chambers of the pyramids, of which ancient Herodotus speaks, nor the brick tower of Babylon, nor the ia I, no more than yourself, have seen the Chaldeanto the sacred form of the Sikra, nor the temple of Solomon, which is destroyed, nor the stone doors of the sepulchre of the kings of Israel, which are broken We will content ourselves with the fragments of the book of Hermes which we have here I will explain to you the statue of Saint Christopher, the syels which are on the front of the Sainte-Chapelle, and one of which holds in his hands a vase, the other, a cloud--"