"And do you still love this Bihan?"
"No: I despise him."
"And Matheline,—do you love her yet?"
"Yes, oh! yes!... but ... I hate her!"
"I see," said Satan, "that you are a coward, and wicked like all men. Since you have heard and seen enough at a distance, listen, and look at your feet...."
The wall closed with a loud crash of the stones as they came together, and Sylvestre Ker saw that he was surrounded by an enormous heap of gold-pieces, as high as his waist, which gently floated, singing the symphony of riches. All around him was gold, and through the gap in the roof the shower of gold fell, and fell, and fell.
"Am I the master of all this?" asked Sylvestre Ker.
"Yes," replied Satan; "you have compelled me, who am gold, to come forth from my caverns; you are therefore the master of gold, provided you purchase it at the price of your soul. You cannot have both God and gold. You must choose one or the other."
"I have chosen," said Sylvestre Ker. "I keep my soul."