“Monseigneur, why should you thus have assumed a disguise?  You are already a great noble, but your fortunes have not yet reached their acme.  You will one day be Marechal de France, and the dignity will be conferred upon you on the other side of the Rhone.  Beauty has great influence over you; but with those whom you seek to please your purse has even more charms than your person.  You will ere long have immense success at the gaming-table, far beyond any which you have yet achieved.  You have been engaged in a lawsuit against an unmarried woman.[214] You hold one of the highest offices in the kingdom.[215] You are not by birth a Frenchman, but a German.  One of the greatest ladies in the world will cause you considerable misfortune,[216] through the medium of a red animal.[217] You will, however, finally triumph over your troubles, although the trial will be a long and a severe one.”

Luminelli then consulted his magic globe a second time; led the lackey of M. de Crequy to the rear of his master; made a profound salutation to the latter; and addressing him in his turn, detailed, as he had previously done in the case of Bassompierre, all the leading events of his past and future life.  He next went through the same ceremony with the Duc de la Force and M. de Rambure; and ultimately he turned towards the Marechal d’Ancre, exclaiming: 

“You, Sir, are no Venetian, although you have sought to appear such; but it would be well for you if you were so.  As it is, if you will follow my advice, you will leave Paris to-morrow for Venice; for should you long delay your departure, it will be too late to effect it.  When you arrived in France you were alike poor and obscure, although you are now rich both in gold and honours.  Leave the country, nevertheless, or these advantages will avail you nothing.  With few exceptions, you are detested by all classes; and you will find your native air of Florence more wholesome than that of the country which you have adopted.  You possess governments, and wield the baton of a Marechal de France, but your tenure of these dignities is unstable; and you will do well to save yourself while you have yet the opportunity.  You place your reliance on the favour of a crowned head, but that very favour shadows forth your ruin.”

As Concini stood motionless before him, the astrologer took him by the hand, and leading him towards the globe, by a slight touch caused it to revolve.  As he gazed upon the polished surface of the mysterious instrument, the colour of the Italian came and went so rapidly that his companions believed him to be attacked by sudden indisposition; and depositing a heavy purse of gold upon the table, they urged him to withdraw.  Before they could effect their object, however, Luminelli thrust the purse from him, having previously withdrawn from it a single pistole which he flung to his attendant.  He then cast himself back upon his chair; the heavy curtain again fell