"Married!" said the baron; "and to whom?"
"Just to honest and brave Jacques Fort--the stoutest mariner who sails out of the Garonne. He has got a ship of his own, now--the _Sainte Vierge_; and to-day he sails upon his first voyage, as far as Bayonne."
"He sails to-day--so; and the maiden's name--your niece's name--what is that?"
And go the seneschal did, wondering very much at the uncommon interest his master seemed to be taking in vulgar, sublunary things.
Then Baron Armand de Chatel-morant paced the room a long time in gloomy meditation. At length he sat down again, and said aloud: "There is no doubt of it--I am in love. That face haunts me; Toinette's face is ever floating opposite to me. 'Tis an odd feeling; I was never so before. But, since it is so, I must even have the maiden--she will cheer me--I love her face. I will send to-morrow to Bordeaux, as from her uncle; and when she comes here, by the star of Aldeboran, she stays here, Jacques Fort to the contrary notwithstanding!"
The baron turned coolly round, and saw, sitting upon the arm of the chair close to him, the figure of a very thin dwarf, with a long, unearthly face, and fingers like hawks' claws. This was the imp--the baron's Familiar.
"How, Klosso!" said Armand; "you come without being called?"
"Yes; but you would have called me soon."
"You know what I am thinking of--of Toinette. I love her--I must have her."
"Klosso," said the baron, "I don't believe you. You know the future; but you lie about it when you speak."
"Will you, then," answered the demon, "look into the crystal: that can't lie. Come--it's only another year--give yourself a treat--come!"
"I have given you many years already," said the baron, musing; "look how grey my hair is!"
"Dye it," said the imp, who, if he was a Familiar, certainly behaved as such. But the baron took no notice of his impertinence. He was dreadfully smitten by Toinette, and said he'd have a twelvemonths' worth of knowledge of futurity for her sake. The thin dwarf grinned, and then made a motion of relief, as one who saw before him the speedy end of a long, long watch. So he took the crystal, uttered, as may be supposed, some magic words; and the baron looked upon the clear surface.