way whereby to clinch the bargain without any damage done to you. You have a silver ring, I have a gold one; let us exchange; the barter will be to your advantage, as you see.” And the wolf held out its paw, Thibault saw a ring of the purest gold shining under the fur of what corresponded to the ring finger, and accepted the bargain without hesitation; the respective rings then changed ownership.
“Good!” said the wolf, “now we two are married.”
“You mean betrothed, Master Wolf,” put in Thibault. “Plague upon you! you go too fast.”
“We shall see about that, Master Thibault. And now you go back to your work, and I’ll go back to mine.”
“Goodbye, my lord Wolf.”
“Till we meet again, Master Thibault.”
The wolf had hardly uttered these last words, on which it had laid an unmistakeable emphasis, ere it disappeared like a pinch of lighted gunpowder, and like the gunpowder, left behind a strong smell of sulphur.
Thibault again stood for a moment dumbfounded. He had not yet grown accustomed to this manner of making one’s exit, to use a theatrical expression; he looked round him on every side, but the wolf was not there.
At first he thought the whole thing must have been a dream, but, looking down, he saw the devil’s ring on the third finger of his right hand; he drew it off and examined it. He saw a monogram engraved on the inner side, and looking more closely, perceived that it was formed of two letters, T. and S.