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'Give him this purse: take out of it as much as you will, and as often as you will, and there will yet he six livres left in it.'
These words are spoken by a man of sinister aspect, who certainly was not in the sorcerer’s cabinet when Matthew arrived. How had he entered? It was impossible to comprehend, for the doors had all been carefully closed by the master of the house, that none might hear his conversation with Matthew.
'It is some of the devil’s handywork, cried the fiddler, 'and I will not risk my salvation by accepting it.'
'It is a talisman,' replied the other, 'a talisman which a Christian can use without fear.' In pronouncing the word Christian, a shudder ran over all his limbs.
'If this purse is the work of the devil, then I am damned,' added he with a bitter smile.
Matthew, half convinced, yielded to the temptafion of becoming possessor of such a treasure.
He had recourse so frequently to the wonderful purse, that he became in a short time master of a pretty house, and lived in as splendid a style as the richest citizen in Hesdin.
Every day were feasts and fetes without end.—He continued however to play at wed-
