"I do not begrudge you that joy," the Sorcerer said. "But it was for another purpose I challenged you to acquire the best possible woman. Even as I adopted you for cynical reason, and gained more joy of it than I deserved, you acquired her for reason, and your joy of her is incidental."

Both Parry and Jolie gazed at him, realizing that his visit was not at all social. Something serious was afoot.

"Through my arts I divined that the Horned One has slated great evil for this region," the Sorcerer continued.

He did not name Lucifer directly, because that would invite mischief.

"But this is a poor region, even after our efforts," Parry protested. "What interest could such a being have here?

"

"It is the entire southern region of France that has evoked the interest," the Sorcerer explained. "Our village is not the object, because I have labored long to mask its improvement from the notice of the Crown, for tax purposes.

But elsewhere in the region peasants and their masters are doing well, too, partly because of the Albigensian heresy."

"Heresy?" Jolie asked. Parry kept silent, because he knew something of the matter. Heresy meant trouble, certainly!

"You of the country and village remain loyal to the tenets of the Church, but in the growing towns men are becoming more liberal. They question the corruption of the priests, and indeed the entire priestly hierarchy. They are dualists, seeing only good and evil without shades between, and to them the choices are clear enough without the intercession of the priests. Indeed, they see little need for any interpretation between themselves and God."

"But that means there is no need for-" Jolie said.

"For the Church," the Sorcerer concluded. "And that is heresy, plain and simple."

"But if they do honor God-"

"Forgive me if my cynicism offends your sensitivities, daughter." The Sorcerer had called her that since her marriage to his son. "I do not subscribe in my heart to any religion; I cannot afford it, professionally. I see no reason why a man should not honor God directly, in his own way. But consider the welfare of the Church, if the people should choose to bypass it. If they no longer tithed. No longer attended services or honored the sacraments. No longer heeded the word of the Pope."

"Why, it would destroy the Church!" she exclaimed.

"Therefore the very notion is heretical. The Church cannot tolerate that which would destroy it-and the notions that are prospering among the Albigenses would indeed destroy it. The Church has kept its place by being vigilant in the suppression of rival notions, and it shall surely continue so. Its power is being threatened, and like any creature it will react with ferocity."

"But are the Albigenses so bad?" she asked.

"No, they are not bad at all; they are good folk, as these things go. They are industrious and increasingly educated, and though they subscribe to asceticism, those who associate with them are more tolerant of wealth, in fact, some of the Lords are using the precepts of the Albigenses to avoid the payment of taxes to the Crown."