“’May the projects and the designs of the worker of iniquity, who has made enchantment against you, be brought to naught; may any influence obtained by Satanic means, any attack directed against you, be null and void of effect; may all the maledictions of your enemy be transformed into benedictions from the highest summits of the eternal hills; may his fluids of death be transmuted into ferments of life; finally, may the Archangels of Judgment and Chastisement decide the fate of the miserable priest who has put his trust in the works of Darkness and Evil.’

“‘You,’ he said to me, ’are delivered.  Heaven has cured you.  May your heart therefore repay the living God and Jesus Christ, through the glorious Mary, with the most ardent devotion.’

“He offered me unleavened bread and wine.  I was saved.  You who are a physician, Monsieur Des Hermies, can bear witness that human science was impotent to aid me—­and now look at me!”

“Yes,” Des Hermies replied, “without discussing the means, I certify the cure, and, I admit, it is not the first time that to my knowledge similar results have been obtained.—­No thanks,” to Mme. Carhaix, who was inviting him to take another helping from a plate of sausages with horseradish in creamed peas.  “But,” said Durtal, “permit me to ask you several questions.  Certain details interest me.  What were the sacerdotal ornaments of Dr. Johannes?”

“His costume was a long robe of vermilion cashmere caught up at the waist by a red and white sash.  Above this robe he had a white mantle of the same stuff, cut, over the chest, in the form of a cross upside down.”

“Cross upside down?”

“Yes, this cross, reversed like the figure of the Hanged Man in the old-fashioned Tarot card deck, signifies that the priest Melchisedek must die in the Old Man—­that is, man affected by original sin—­and live again the Christ, to be powerful with the power of the Incarnate Word which died for us.”

Carhaix seemed ill at ease.  His fanatical and suspicious Catholicism refused to countenance any save the prescribed ceremonies.  He made no further contribution to the conversation, and in significant silence filled the glasses, seasoned the salad, and passed the plates.

“What sort of a ring was that you spoke of?”

“It is a symbolic ring of pure gold.  It has the image of a serpent, whose head, in relief, set with a ruby, is connected by a fine chain with a tiny circlet which fastens the jaws of the reptile.”

“What I should like awfully to know is the origin and the aim of this sacrifice.  What has Melchisedek to do with your affair?”