---

the toppling towers

the sagging floor

worm-eaten wainscots

a fallen grandeur

a child was born

unhappy and accursed

a shade of melancholy

a youth in isolation

"May ne'er a noble of thy murd'rous line

Survive to reach a greater age than thine"

in a catacomb

in a medieval tunic

speaking in a rumbling voice

a debased form of latin

"Can you not guess my secret? Have you no brain whereby you may recognize the will which has through six long centuries fulfilled the dreadful curse upon the house? Have I not told you of the great elixier of eternal life? Know you not how the secret of Alchemy was solved? I tell you, it is I! I! I! that have lived for six hundred years to maintain my revenge, for I am Charles Le Sorcier!"