If I had thought it possible to lead back Madame d’Urfe to the right use of her senses I would have made the attempt, but I felt sure that her disease was without remedy, and the only course before me seemed to abet her in her ravings and to profit by them.

If I had spoken out like an honest man and told her that her theories were nonsensical, she would not have believed me; she would have thought me jealous of her knowledge, and I should have lost her favour without any gain to her or to myself.  I thus let things take their course, and to speak the truth I was flattered to see myself treated as one of the most profound brothers of the Rosy Cross, as the most powerful of men by so distinguished a lady, who was in high repute for her learning, who entertained and was related to the first families of France, and had an income of eighty thousand francs, a splendid estate, and several magnificent houses in Paris.  I was quite sure that she would refuse me nothing, and though I had no definite plan of profiting by her wealth I experienced a certain pleasure at the thought that I could do so if I would.

In spite of her immense fortune and her belief in her ability to make gold, Madame d’Urfe was miserly in her habits, for she never spent more than thirty thousand francs in a year, and she invested her savings in the exchange, and in this way had nearly doubled them.  A brother used to buy her in Government securities at their lowest rate and sell at their rise, and in this manner, being able to wait for their rise, and fall, she had amassed a considerable sum.

She had told me more than once that she would give all she possessed to become a man, and that she knew I could do this for her if I would.  One day, as she was speaking to me on this subject in a tone of persuasion almost irresistible, I told her that I must confess I had the power to do what she wanted, but that I could not make up my mind to perform the operation upon her as I should have to kill her first.  I thought this would effectually check her wish to go any further, but what was my surprise to hear her say,

“I know that, and what is more I know the death I shall have to die; but for all that I am ready.”

“What, then, is that death, madam?”

“It is by the same poison which killed Paracelsus.”

“Do you think that Paracelsus obtained the hypostasis?”

“No, but I know the reason of his not doing so.”

“What is the reason?”

“It is that he was neither man or woman, and a composite nature is incapable of the hypostasis, to obtain which one must be either the one or the other.”

“Very true, but do you know how to make the poison, and that the thing is impossible without the aid of a salamander?”

“That may or may not be!  I beseech you to enquire of the oracle whether there be anyone in Paris in possession of this potion.”

It was easy to see that she thought herself in possession of it, so I had no hesitation in extracting her name from the oracular pyramid.  I pretended to be astonished at the answer, but she said boastfully,