‘It is true; but an ave is not much; his sister, my niece, Matilda——’
‘You shut her in a convent, and hanged her lover.’
‘Had I not reason? besides, has she not others?’
‘A dozen, without doubt.’
‘And my brother, the prior?’
‘A liege subject of my lord the Devil; he never opens his mouth except to utter an oath, or to swallow a cup of wine.’
‘And yet, if but one of these would but say an ave for me, I should be saved.’
‘Aves with them are raræ aves,’ replied Mercurius, wagging his tail right waggishly; ‘and, what is more, I will lay thee any wager that not one of these will say a prayer to save thee.’
‘I would wager willingly,’ responded he of Chauchigny; ‘but what has a poor soul like me to stake?’
‘Every evening, after the day’s roasting, my lord Satan giveth a cup of cold water to his servants; I will bet thee thy water for a year, that none of the three will pray for thee.’