"Canon," said the doctor, seizing Dom Diégo by the right sleeve, while the abbé, who held the worthy man by the left sleeve, was using every effort to force him to follow him. "Canon," repeated the doctor, "just one word, I pray you."
"No, no!" said the abbé, "let us flee, Dom Diégo, let us flee this serpent tempter."
And the abbé continued to pull the canon by his right sleeve.
"Just a word," said the physician, "and you will see how much this dear abbé deceives you in my place."
"The Abbé Ledoux deceives me in your place! That is too much by far!" cried Dom Diégo. "How, sir, do you dare?"
"I am going to prove to you what I say, canon," said the doctor, earnestly, as he saw Dom Diégo make an effort to approach him. The abbé, suspecting the canon's weakness, pulled him violently, and said:
"Recollect, unhappy man, that your mother Eve was lost by listening to the first word of Satan. I adjure you, I command you, to follow me this instant! If you give way, unhappy man, take care! One second more, and it is all up with you. Let us go, let us go!"
"Yes, yes, you are my saviour, take me away from here," stammered the canon, disengaging himself from the grasp of the doctor. "In spite of myself, I am already yielding to the incomprehensible influence of this demon. I recall those Guinea fowl eggs with crab gravy, that trout with frozen Montpellier butter, that celestial roast à la Sardanapalus, and already a dim hope--let us fly, abbé, it is time, let us fly."
"Canon," said the doctor, holding on to the arm of Dom Diégo with all his strength, "listen to me, I pray you."
"_Vade retro, Satanas!_" cried Dom Diégo, with horror, escaping from the doctor's hands.
And dragged along by the abbé, he was on the threshold of the door, when the physician cried:
"I will cook for you as much as you desire, and as long as I shall live, Dom Diégo. Grant me five minutes, and I will prove what I declare. Five minutes, what do you risk?"
At the magic words, "I will cook for you as much as you desire," the canon seemed nailed to the door-sill, and did not advance a step, in spite of the efforts of the abbé, who was too exhausted to struggle against the weight of such a large man.
"You certainly are stupid!" cried the abbé, losing control of himself, "what a fool you are to have any dealings with him!"