A pair of huge bats with outstretched wings hung by wires from the
ceiling, their white teeth glistening in the light of four lamps on
stands, some six feet high, one in each corner of the room. The floor was
covered with a dark Eastern carpet, a large chair with a footstool in
front stood at a short distance from the planisphere; at one end was a
massive table on which were retorts, glass globes, and a variety of
apparatus new to Guy. At the other end of the room there was a frame some
eight feet square on which a white sheet was stretched tightly.
"Now, Master Guy," the Italian said, "firstly, I beg you to give me the
date of your birth and if possible the hour, for I would for my own
information if not for yours, cast your horoscope. I like to know for my
own satisfaction, as far as may be, the future of those with whom I have
to deal. If I perceive that misfortunes and perhaps death threaten them,
it is clearly of no use my entering into relations with them. In your
case, of course, it is with your mistress that I am chiefly concerned;
still as your fortunes are at present so closely mixed up with hers, I may
learn something of much utility to me from your horoscope."
"I was born on the 8th of December, 1394, and shall be therefore seventeen
in a fortnight's time. I was born a few minutes after midnight, for I have
heard my mother say that the castle bell had sounded but a few minutes
before I was born.
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