paper; "you have but to sign this document, and what you see on the table is but a trifle when compared with the riches you may command; besides uninterrupted health, and, indeed, whatever you wish for; since money you know, my dear friend, carries all before it."

"And pray, Sir," asked Louis, influenced, as he afterwards declared, merely by curiosity, but determined not to sign the paper upon any terms, "what may be the contents of that document?"

"A mere bagatelle; look it over yourself. Only to sin for a single second this year, two seconds the next; to double it the third, and so on with each succeeding year. I say the penalty amounts, in fact, to nothing; for the truth is, you will sin for a much longer period annually if you do not sign it, to say nothing of the crimes which poverty and desperation may drive you to commit." So saying, he threw the paper care

C

lessly towards poor Louis, and betook himself to his blackguard, with due gentlemanly nonchalance.

The youth read-"Sin for a second in the first year, two seconds the second," then looked at the gold." Let me see," said he, calculating, "that will be four seconds the third year-eight seconds the fourth-sixteen seconds the fifththirty-two seconds the sixth, and”.

"Exactly so," said the gentleman in black, interrupting him, "that is about a minute in the course of the whole six years. And, beside, you'll observe a clause, by which all the sins you have committed before, and all that you may in future commit, over and above the stipulated agreement, will be taken into account. So that

you see not even a hermit need live more immaculately."

"I must confess you are very liberal," observed young Desonges, doubtingly.

"You'll always find me liberal," said the other, handing a pen across the table.

"Stop! stop! Let me read the whole paper first."

"Oh, by all means! You'll find all correctly expressed."

Louis ascertained the manner in which he was to obtain daily supplies of money, so long as the stipulations in the contract were fulfilled;—“ any amount" was specified-he had committed sins enough already, he well knew, to wipe off the score for many years to come, to say nothing of those which, in the common course of events, must of necessity ensue. The dream of unlimited riches, and unchecked and unbounded pleasure, was intoxicating; but yet a something he knew not how to define, prompted him to hesitate. At this critical juncture, a noise arose in the antiroom. There was a war of words, amid which was heard the voice of a marchand tailleur,

(from whose "magasin" poor Louis had been supplied with divers " habits, redingottes, gilets," &c., &c., for which payment had been oft and again demanded, and ever in vain,) loudly preeminent. Threat had succeeded threat, and matters were now approaching to a crisis.

"How much does the fellow want?" asked the gentleman in black.

"Three thousand livres," replied Louis.

"Pshaw an insignificant trifle; call him in and pay him-merely to get rid of his impertinence.-There-throw your capote over the rest of the money-there are five thousand."

"Your generosity overpowers me," exclaimed the astonished Louis, taking up the pen, "There, Sir, I have signed the paper."

"Good! (reading) Louis Desonges,' perfectly correct; and there, my good friend, is the counterpart, signed by myself: it's a singular hand, perhaps you may not be able to decipher

it; indeed my signature is frequently, I have been told, taken for that of some of your great men. But no matter; if it answers their purpose I believe they don't care much for that, nor I either, to tell you the truth. However I must be off, having a little business just now to transact in London."

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Stop, my dear Sir," exclaimed Louis, whose fancy being now relieved from the terrors of a jail, was once more on the qui vive. "You promised me the recipe for that perfume. We must not forget the ladies. There's poor Adele suffers sadly from the head-ache;-and the lovely Comtesse-and".

"Ah-I know what you would say,” replied the gentleman in black, interrupting him, and taking a black-edged paper from the bundle, which he had again tied up with black tape; "they are almost all fond of such things.There you will find what they will think inesti