Tony,he said,with his usual sneering laugh,it avails not to deny it.The Woman and the Devil,who,as thine oracle Holdforth will confirm to thee,cheated man at the beginning,have this day proved more powerful than my discretion.Yon termagant looked so tempting,and had the art to preserve her countenance so naturally,while I communicated my lord's message,that,by my faith,I thought I might say some little thing for myself.She thinks she hath my head under her girdle now,but she is deceived.Where is Doctor Alasco?In his laboratory,answered Foster.It is the hour he is spoken not withal.We must wait till noon is past,or spoil his important--what said I?important!--I would say interrupt his divine studies.Ay,he studies the devil's divinity,said Varney;but when Iwant him,one hour must suffice as well as another.Lead the way to his pandemonium.So spoke Varney,and with hasty and perturbed steps followed Foster,who conducted him through private passages,many of which were well-nigh ruinous,to the opposite side of the quadrangle,where,in a subterranean apartment,now occupied by the chemist Alasco,one of the Abbots of Abingdon,who had a turn for the occult sciences,had,much to the scandal of his convent,established a laboratory,in which,like other fools of the period,he spent much precious time,and money besides,in the pursuit of the grand arcanum.
Anthony Foster paused before the door,which was scrupulously secured within,and again showed a marked hesitation to disturb the sage in his operations.But Varney,less scrupulous,roused him by knocking and voice,until at length,slowly and reluctantly,the inmate of the apartment undid the door.The chemist appeared,with his eyes bleared with the heat and vapours of the stove or alembic over which he brooded and the interior of his cell displayed the confused assemblage of heterogeneous substances and extraordinary implements belonging to his profession.The old man was muttering,with spiteful impatience,Am I for ever to be recalled to the affairs of earth from those of heaven?To the affairs of hell,answered Varney,for that is thy proper element.--Foster,we need thee at our conference.Foster slowly entered the room.Varney,following,barred the door,and they betook themselves to secret council.
In the meanwhile,the Countess traversed the apartment,with shame and anger contending on her lovely cheek.
