“But you know him?” insisted Luc.

“Yes.”

“And yet you, by the aid of a Christian priest, seek to raise the Devil!” exclaimed the Marquis.

“I wanted to know something. The Devil should have entered into the heretic and answered my questions; but the fellow cheated. Faugh! Do not let us speak of it.”

Luc fixed his eyes on the handsome, pleasant face.

“What did you want to know?” he asked, with a smile.

“Something about a woman.” Monsieur Armand cut himself a slice of pie. “I had that rascal fetched from Venice on purpose. The whim cost me something.”

“I truly marvel at your folly,” said Luc calmly.

“Oh, there is a Devil,” returned the other, with a sideway glance, “and one might raise him, you know. But you have the fashionable tone of Paris.”

“I have never been there save for a day in passing,” answered Luc simply. “And I speak from conviction, not fashion.”