"Some time before midnight, Ovide and I--Ovide would not go alone--hid ourselves in the bushes near the door of Bonhomme Duval, the door which Annette had shown to me, not once only, but twice. But I was to show her something; I, Celestine Colomb. Ovide had his gun loaded with a silver bullet, a bullet which I had made with my own hands--for the sorcerer, of course. Ovide had a knife also, long and sharp. Michel does not forget that knife, I think.
"It lacked but a few minutes of midnight when the door opened and there stood Michel and Annette on the threshold in the light of the fire. Annette was angry, as we could see; and Michel, that giant who could have strangled her with one hand, was trying to pacify her, to explain what could not be explained.
"'So,' she said, 'you must go, it seems, although I have prayed you to stay a few minutes longer, to spend the first moments of Christmas with me--and you will not.'
"'Annette, my dear Annette, have I not said that I must go? It is an important appointment.'
"'Important? Oh yes, more important than I, of course. I see. You do not love me. No, it is money that you love, that only.'
"'Not at all, Annette, it is that I must meet a friend.'
"'A friend, Michel! What kind of a friend?'
"'Annette, I cannot tell you. It is a matter of life and death. I must go. Good-bye, dear. A kiss, a single kiss.'
"No, no! Never again! Ah, can I believe it? It is true, then, what Celestine has said. You are a sorcerer, and your friend, your friend, Michel, is Satan. Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu!"
"At this word Michel began to laugh, but presently the laugh became very strange, more like the cry of a wild animal than the voice of a man; he began to lose the human shape; his coat became the skin of a beast; his feet and hands became paws; long ears grew upon his head; the jaw was thrust forth and the fangs protruded. Nom de Dieu! It was a wolf, a loup garou, that, with a ferocious growl, precipitated itself upon Annette, who fell unconscious on the ground.