Auriol complied, and as he scanned the writing he became transfixed with
fear and astonishment, while the pocket-book dropped from his grasp. After a while he looked up at Rougemont, who was leaning over his
shoulder, and whose features were wrinkled with a derisive smile. "Then you _are_ the Fiend?" he cried. "If you will have it so--certainly," replied the other. "You are Satan in the form of the man I once knew," cried Auriol. "Avaunt! I will have no dealings with you." "I thought you wiser than to indulge in such idle fears, Darcy,"
rejoined the other. "Granting even your silly notion of me to be
correct, why need you be alarmed? You are immortal." "True," rejoined Auriol thoughtfully; "but yet----"

"Pshaw!" rejoined the other, "sign, and have done with the matter." "By this compact I am bound to deliver a victim--a female
victim--whenever you shall require it," cried Auriol. "Precisely," replied the other; "you can have no difficulty in
fulfilling that condition." "But if I fail in doing so, I am doomed----"

"But you will _not_ fail," interrupted the other, lighting a taper and
sealing the parchment. "Now sign it." Auriol mechanically took the pen, and gazed fixedly on the document. "I shall bring eternal destruction on myself if I sign it," he muttered. "A stroke of the pen will rescue you from utter ruin," said Rougemont,
leaning over his shoulder. "Riches and happiness are yours. You will not
have such another chance." "Tempter!" cried Auriol, hastily attaching his signature to the paper. But he instantly started back aghast at the fiendish laugh that rang in
his ears. "I repent--give it me back!" he cried, endeavouring to snatch the
parchment, which Rougemont thrust into his bosom. "It is too late!" cried the latter, in a triumphant tone. "You are
mine--irredeemably mine." "Ha!" exclaimed Auriol, sinking back on the couch. "I leave you in possession of your house," pursued Rougemont; "but I
shall return in a week, when I shall require my first victim." "Your first victim! oh, Heaven!" exclaimed Auriol. "Ay, and my choice falls on Edith Talbot!" replied Rougemont. "Edith Talbot!" exclaimed Auriol; "she your victim! Think you I would
resign her I love better than life to you?" "It is because she loves you that I have chosen her," rejoined
Rougemont, with a bitter laugh. "And such will ever be the case with
you. Seek not to love again, for your passion will be fatal to the
object of it. When the week has elapsed, I shall require Edith at your
hands. Till then, farewell!" "Stay!" cried Auriol. "I break the bargain with thee, fiend. I will have
none of it. I abjure thee." And he rushed wildly after Rougemont, who had already gained the larger
chamber; but, ere he could reach him, the mysterious individual had
passed through the outer door, and when Auriol emerged upon the gallery,
he was nowhere to be seen. Several servants immediately answered the frantic shouts of the young
man, and informed him that Mr. Rougemont had quitted the house some
moments ago, telling them that their master was perfectly satisfied with
the arrangements he had made for him. "And we hope nothing has occurred to alter your opinion, sir?" said the
hall porter. "You are sure Mr. Rougemont is gone?" cried Auriol. "Oh, quite sure, sir," cried the hall porter. "I helped him on with his
cloak myself. He said he should return this day week." "If he comes I will not see him," cried Auriol sharply; "mind that. Deny
me to him; and on no account whatever let him enter the house." "Your orders shall be strictly obeyed," replied the porter, staring with
surprise. "Now leave me," cried Auriol. And as they quitted him, he added, in a tone and with a gesture of the
deepest despair, "All precautions are useless. I am indeed lost!" CHAPTER III

IRRESOLUTION


On returning to the cabinet, where his fatal compact with Rougemont had
been signed, Auriol perceived the pocket-book lying on the floor near
the table, and, taking it up, he was about to deposit it in the
writing-desk, when an irresistible impulse prompted him once more to
examine its contents. Unfolding the roll of notes, he counted them, and
found they amounted to more than a hundred thousand pounds. The sight of
so much wealth, and the thought of the pleasure and the power it would
procure him, gradually dispelled his fears, and arising in a transport
of delight, he exclaimed--"Yes, yes--all obstacles are now removed! When
Mr. Talbot finds I am become thus wealthy, he will no longer refuse me
his daughter. But I am mad," he added, suddenly checking himself--"worse
than mad, to indulge such hopes. If it be indeed the Fiend to whom I
have sold myself, I have no help from perdition! If it be man, I am
scarcely less terribly fettered. In either case, I will not remain here
longer; nor will I avail myself of this accursed money, which has
tempted me to my undoing." And, hurling the pocket-book to the farther end of the room, he was
about to pass through the door, when a mocking laugh arrested him. He
looked round with astonishment and dread, but could see no one. After a
while, he again moved forward, but a voice, which he recognised as that
of Rougemont, called upon him to stay. "It will be in vain to fly," said the unseen speaker. "You cannot escape
me. Whether you remain here or not--whether you use the wealth I have
given you, or leave it behind you--you cannot annul your bargain. With
this knowledge, you are at liberty to go. But remember, on the seventh
night from this I shall require Edith Talbot from you!" "Where are you, fiend?" demanded Auriol, gazing around furiously. "Show
yourself, that I may confront you." A mocking laugh was the only response deigned to this injunction. "Give me back the compact," cried Auriol imploringly. "It was signed in
ignorance. I knew not the price I was to pay for your assistance. Wealth
is of no value to me without Edith." "Without wealth you could not obtain her," replied the voice. "You are
only, therefore, where you were. But you will think better of the
bargain to-morrow. Meanwhile, I counsel you to place the money you have
so unwisely cast from you safely under lock and key, and to seek repose. You will awaken with very different thoughts in the morning." "How am I to account for my sudden accession of wealth?" inquired
Auriol, after a pause. "You a gambler, and ask that question!" returned the unseen stranger,
with a bitter laugh. "But I will make your mind easy on that score. As
regards the house, you will find a regular conveyance of it within that
writing-desk, while the note lying on the table, which bears your
address, comes from me, and announces the payment of a hundred and
twenty thousand pounds to you, as a debt of honour. You see I have
provided against every difficulty. And now, farewell!" The voice was then hushed; and though Auriol addressed several other
questions to the unseen speaker, no answer was returned him.