The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-01-01
CHAPTER XIII.
THE SHE WOLF AsTARTE.

O1lE NO1f u.
In a dark wainscoted room overlook
ing that branch of the Seine which
divides the northern part of Paris from
the isle of the city, Giles dc Retz, late
~ chamberlain of the king of France
sat writing. The hotel had recently
been redecorated after the sojourn of
the English. Wooden paVementS had
again been placed in the rooms, where
the barbarians had strewed their
rusheS and trampled upon their fish
bones. Noble furniture from the lathes
Of POitierS, decorated with the royal
ermines Of Brittany, stood about the
many alcoves. The table itself, where
on the great soldier wrote, was closed
in with drawers and shelves which
descended to the floor and seemed to
shut the occupant in as in a cell.
Before De RetZ stood a curious ink
stand, made by some cunning jeweler
out of the upper half Of a human skull
of small size, cut across at the eye
holes, inverted. and set in silver with
a rim of large rubies. This was half
filled with ink of a startling vermillion
color.
The document which Giles de Retz
was busy transcribing upon sheets of
noble Vellum in this strange ink was of
the most mysterious character. The
upper part had the appearance Of a
charter engrossed by the hand of some
def legal scribe, but the words which
followed were as startling as the
vehicle in which they were made to
stand out from the vellum.
UNTO BARRAN = SATHANAS;
LORD MOST GLORIOUS AND PUIS-
SAINT IN HE'LL BENEATH AND IN
THE EARTH ABOVE, I, HIS IN
WORTHY SERVITOR. GILES DE
RETZ. MAKE MY vows, HEREBY
FOREVER RENOUNCING GOD AND
CHRIST AND THE BLESSED
SAINTS"
To this appalling Introduction sue
ceeded many lines Of close and delicate
script, interspersed with curious cab
alistic signs, in which the sign of the
cross reversed could frequently be de-
tected. Giles de RetZ wrote rapidly,
rising only at intervals to throw
fresh log of wood across the vast iron
dogs on either side of the wide fire
place, as the rain from the northwest
beat more and more fiercely upon the
small glazed panes of the window and
howled among the innumerable gar
goyleS and twisted roof-stacks of the
Hotel de Pornic
Within the chamber itself, in the in
tervals Of the storm, low continuous
growing made itself evident At first
it was disregarded by the writer. but
presently, by its sheer pertinacity, the
sound SO irritated him that he rose
from his seat and striding to a mar
row door covered with a heavy curtain,
he threw it wide 10 the wall. Then
through the black oblong so made a
huge and shaggy she wolf paced Sow
~1y into the room.
The marshal kicked the brute impa-
tiently with his slippered foot as she
entered, and strange to relate, the she
wolf skunk past him with the cowed
air Of a dog conscious of having de-
served punishment.
'AStarte, vilest beast" he cried,
have 1 not thousand times warned
you to be silent and wait outside when
l was at work in my chamberi"
The she wolf eyed her master as he
went back toward his table. Then,
seeing him lift his pen with a sigh of
content, she dropped down upon the
warm hearthstone, lying with her
launches toward the blazing logs and
with her bristling head couched upon
her paws Her yellow, shining eyes
blinked sIeepily and approvingly at
him, while with her tongue she rasped
the soft pads of her feet, one by one
biting away the fur from between the
toes with her long and cleaning teeth.
Presently Astarte appeared to doze off.
Her eyes were shut, her attitude re-
Taxed. But so soon as even her master
moved an inch TO consult q marked list
of dates, which hung on a hook beside
him, or leaned over to reach his ink,
the flashing yellow eye and the CLEAN
of white teeth underneath told that
AStarte was awake and intently watch
ing every movement of the worker.
Through the heavy boom of the storm
without, the thresh of the rain upon
the lattice easement, aad the whipping
gusts which shook the house, the soft
wheeze of the engrossing quill could be
heard, the crackle of TIE burning logs
and the heavy. regular breathing of
the couchant she wolf being the only
other sounds audible within the apart
ment.
Giles de Retz wrote on, smiling to
himself as he added line after line to
his manuscript. His beard shone with
a truccuient biue-black luster For the
moment the aged look had quite gone
out of his face. His cheek appeared
flushed with the hues of youth and
hope; yet withal a youth without in
nocence or charm. Rather 1t seemed
as If fresh blood had been injected
into the veins Of some aged demon.
moribund and cruel, giving, instead Of
health or grace, only a new lease of
cruelty aud lust.
Presently another door opened, the
main entrance Of the apartment this