"’Not at all, Annette, it is that I must meet a friend.’ "’A friend, Michel! What kind of a friend?’ "’Annette, I cannot tell you. It is a matter of life and death. I must go. Good-bye, dear. A kiss, a single kiss.’ "No, no! Never again! Ah, can I believe it? It is true, then, what Celestine has said. You are a sorcerer, and your friend, your friend, Michel, is Satan. _Mon Dieu_! _Mon Dieu_!" "At this word Michel began to laugh, but presently the laugh became very strange, more like the cry of a wild animal than the voice of a man; he began to lose the human shape; his coat became the skin of a beast; his feet and hands became paws; long ears grew upon his head; the jaw was thrust forth and the fangs protruded. _Nom de Dieu_! It was a wolf, a _loup garou_, that, with a ferocious growl, precipitated itself upon Annette, who fell unconscious on the ground. "’Shoot, shoot, Ovide!’ I screamed, but Ovide, stupefied by terror, stood there groaning and muttering. "’It is he! It is he! The _loup garou_! Child of the devil! He will destroy me, body and soul! It is he! It is he! _Mon Dieu_! _Mon Dieu_!’ "Hearing this, the wolf left Annette and rushed upon us. Then the courage of Ovide returned; he seized the gun and aimed a terrible blow at the head of the beast. But this ferocious animal, evading the blow, in an instant was at my brother’s throat. In another minute Ovide would have been in Hell. It was I who saved him; I who came to the rescue with the long knife; I who struck the blow that should have killed the _loup garou_. By an unlucky chance the blade missed the neck but cut off half of the ear. It drew blood, of course; the beast changed instantly into the human form; and there stood the traitor, Michel Gamache; his face streaming with blood; and there on the snow lay, not the ear of a wolf, but that of a man. Would you like to see it, Jean Baptiste? There it is! I keep it with me all the time, as a souvenir. "The wedding--did it take place? Certainly not! Annette would have married the sorcerer in spite of all, but her people would not hear of it. Now she is ’Sister Sainte Anne’ in the Convent of the Ursulines, where she prays all the time for the soul of the sorcerer. Does she pray also for her dear friend, Celestine Colomb? As to that, you may ask the sorcerer. Go! Ask him, too, why he has lost his ear." "Good evening, Jean," said Michel Gamache, a little later. "You have been delayed, but no matter. There remains an hour of twilight and there will be a clear moon to-night. You have been talking to that she-devil, Mère Tabeau, I see." "_Mon Dieu_! Monsieur Gamache, how do you know that?" said Jean, astonished. "Oh, my friend, I see many things," said the sorcerer, showing his teeth and uttering a weird laugh. "So you have been making friends with La Colomb. Fine company for a young man. And did she tell you that I was a _loup garou_, and that she cut off a piece of my ear--hein?"