time, and give him her answer. He then rose, and almost before Elphege had time to look round her, he had disappeared behind the ledge of rocks from whence she first saw him.
When she turned to call her goats, she found they were no longer to be seen, and none of them answered, as they were used to do. She hurried down the mountain, and there, in the flax-field, she saw her sister Marthe looking anxiously towards the way she should arrive.
" Oh ! Elphège," said she, " something strange has happened ; the goats came running down the mountain but now in such terror, crying and scared as if they had seen a spirit. Biaise was so frightened, that he has gone in search of you—I am glad you are returned."
Three days were gone, and Elphege drove her goats once more towards the lake, but they had mounted but a little way when they seemed seized with a panic, and, refusing to obey her, ran into the woods in all directions.
She continued her way to the lake, and there she beheld, sitting on a block of stone, the stranger.
Their interview was long and animated ; his expressions of love were ardent, and he was so handsome, so fascinating, that Elphege felt it impossible to resist his proposals, and consented to give him her hand.—" Since you love me," said he, " you will not refuse a confidence which "I have a right to claim. Go with me instantly, and let us be married at the church of Vassivii re, where the priest is now waiting for us ; we will then return to your sister, and surprise her by our news, and we shall thus prevent the comments of your envious neighbours."
Elphège did not approve of this arrangement, but her handsome lover argued away her objections.—" I have a boat," he said, " behind the rocks, which will carry us over the lake like lightning. I know of a short path down the mountain, and we shall reach Vassiviere before your absence is even observed."
" How! a boat!" said Elphege—" do you not know that no boat ever ventured on this lake ? The evil spirits swallow up all who dare to embark on these waters."
The stranger smiled.—" I know the lake well," he replied, " and assure you nothing can be safer."
On this he clapped his hands, and Elphege saw with amazement, darting from behind the shelter of a pile of rocks, a small boat, which shone like mother of pearl as it came bounding towards them, without rower or guide, and stopped close at their feet.
" I dare not go," said Elphège, shrinking back ;—" there is enchantment in this."
" It is a surprise I had arranged for you, dearest," answered the stranger, as he seized her hand ; and suddenly clasping her in his anus, leaped with her into the fragile bark.
At that instant a shout was heard, and Elphege beheld ' Blaise hurrying towards the bank of the lake.—" Hold, Elphège," he cried ; " you are in the power of the Spirit of Lake Pavin !—recommend yourself to the Blessed Virgin !"
Elphege shrieked, and struggled in the arms of the stranger, whose eyes, she observed with terror, become like two coals of fire ; a fiendish laugh was on his lips as he called aloud—" You are mine, by the spell of the Creux de Soucy !"
The boat flew along with rapidity—the middle of the lake was now nearly gained, and in another moment they would have entered the dark water above the gulf.
" Oh, save me—blessed Lady of Vassivière !" cried Elphege, in agony—" save my soul from the Evil One, Mother of Mercy !"
Biaise knelt on the shore meantime, his hands clasped, and his eyes riveted on the boat, He prayed fervently to our Lady of Vassivière, and he heard the prayer of his beloved across the water.
At that instant a loud burst of thunder shook the mountains—lightning darted forth, as if from every fissure in the rocks—the waters rose in huge billows, and thick clouds entirely covered the whole face of the lake.
Blaise heard a loud shriek and a plash in the waters—the mist cleared away, and he beheld lying at his feet on the shore the lifeless body of Elphcge. The boat and the stranger had disappeared, and no trace was left of cither. He bore the body in his arms to the cottage. In a few days it was buried in the chapel of Vassivière, and many were the prayers said for the soul of the unfortunate girl who had fallen a victim to the arts of the Spirit of Lake Pavin.
Blaise devoted himself to the service of the bereaved Marthe, and all the money
