CHAPTER XL.
THE ART OF MAKING GOLD.
The two threaded a narrow staircase which led, as did the grand stairs,to the first floor rooms, but a door was under an archway there, whichthe guide opened and the cardinal bravely walked into a dark corridorthus disclosed.
Balsamo shut the door, and the sound of the closing made the visitorlook back with some emotion.
"We have arrived," said the leader. "Only one door to open and shutbehind us. Do not be astonished at the noise it makes, as it is ofiron."
It was fortunate that the cardinal was warned in time, for the snapof the handle and the grinding of the hinges might make nerves moresusceptible than his to vibrate.
They went down three steps and entered a large cell with raftersoverhead, a huge lamp with shade, many books, and a number of chemicaland physical instruments--such was the aspect.
In a few seconds the cardinal felt a difficulty in breathing.
"What does this mean, my lord?" he asked. "The water is streaming offme and I am stifling. What sound is that, master?"
"This is the cause," answered the host, pulling aside a large curtainof asbestos, and uncovering a large brick furnace in the centre ofwhich glared two fiery cavities like lions' eyes in the gloom.
This furnace stood in an inner room, centrally, twice the size of thefirst, unseen from the stone-cloth screen.
"This is rather alarming, meseems," said the prince.
"Only a furnace, my lord."
"But there are different kinds of furnaces; this one strikes me asdiabolical, and the smell is not pleasant. What devil's broth are youcooking?"
"What your eminence wants. I believe you will accept a sample of myproduce. I was not going to work until to-morrow; but as your eminencechanged his mind, I lit the fire as soon as I saw you on the roadhither. I made the mixture so that the furnace is boiling, and you canhave your gold in about ten minutes. Let me open the ventilator to letin some air."
"What, are these crucibles on the fire----"
"In ten minutes they will pour you out the gold as pure as from anyassayer's in christendom."
"I should like to look at them."
"Of course, you can; but you must take the indispensable precaution ofputting on this asbestos mask with glass eyes; or the ardent fire willscorch your sight."
"Have a care, indeed! I prize my eyes, and would not give them for thehundred thousand crowns you promised me."
"So I thought, and your lordship's eyes are good and bright."
The compliment did not displease the prince, who was proud of hispersonal advantages.
"He, he!" he chuckled; "so we are going to see gold made?"
"I expect so, my lord."
"A hundred thousand crowns' worth?"
"There may be a little more, as I mixed up liberally the raw stuff."
"You are certainly a generous magician," said the prince, fastening thefireproof mask on, while his heart throbbed gladly.
"Less than your eminence, though it is kind to praise me forgenerosity, of which you are a good judge. Will your highness stand alittle one side while I lift off the crucible covers?"
He had put on a stone-cloth shirt, and seizing iron pincers, he liftedoff an iron cover. This allowed one to see four similar melting pots,each containing a fluid mass, one vermilion red, others lighter but allruddy.
"Is that gold?" queried the prelate in an undertone, as if afraid byloud speaking to injure the mystery in progress.
"Yes, the four crucibles contain the metal in different stages ofproduction, some having been on eleven hours, some twelve. The mixtureis to be thrown into the first mass of ingredients--the living stuffinto the gross--at the moment of boiling--that is the secret, whichI do not mind communicating to a friend of the science. But, as youreminence may notice, the first crucible is turning white hot; it istime to draw the charge. Will you please stand well back, my lord?"
Rohan obeyed with the same punctuality as a soldier obeying hiscaptain. Dropping the iron pincers, which had already heated toredness, the other ran up to the furnace a carriage on wheels of thesame level, the top being an iron block, in which were set eight moldsof round shape and the same capacity.
"This is the mold in which I cast the ingots," explained the alchemist.
On the floor he spread a lot of wet oakum wads to prevent the splashingof the metal setting the floor afire. He placed himself between themolds and the furnace, opened a large book, from which he read anincantation, and said, as he caught up long tongs in his hand to clutchthe crucible:
"The gold will be splendid, my lord, of the first quality."
"Oh, you are never going to lift that mass single-handed?" exclaimedthe spectator.
"Though it weighs fifty pounds, yes, my lord; but do not fear, for fewmetal-melters have my strength and skill."
"But if the crucible were to burst----"
"That did happen once to me: it was in 1399, while I was experimentingwith Nicolas Flamel, in his house by St. Jacques' in the Shambles. PoorNick almost lost his life, and I lost twenty-seven marks' worth of asubstance more precious than gold."
"What the deuse are you telling me? that you were pursuing the greatwork in 1399 with Nicolas Flamel?"
"Yes, Flamel and I found the way while together fifty or sixty yearsbefore, working with Pietro the Good, in Pela town. He did not pour outthe crucible quickly enough, and I had a bad eye, the left one, for tenor twelve years, from the steam. Of course you know Pietro's book, thefamous 'Margarita Pretiosa,' dated 1330?"
"To be sure; and you knew Flamel and Peter the Good?"
"I was the pupil of one and the master of the other."
While the alarmed prelate, wondered whether this might not be thePrince of Darkness himself and not one of his imps by his side, Balsamoplunged his tongs into the incandescence.
It was a sure and rapid seizure. He nipped the crucible four inchesbeneath the rim, testing the grip by lifting it just a couple ofinches. Then, by a vigorous effort, straining his muscles, he raisedthe frightful pot from the scorching bed. The tongs reddened almostup to the grasp. On the superheated surface white streaks ran likelightning in a sulphurous cloud. The pot edges deepened into brick red,then browner, while its conical shape appeared rosy and silvery inthe twilight of the recess. Finally the molten metal could be spied,forming a violet cream on the top, with golden shivers, which hissedout of the lips of the container, and leaped flaming into the blackmold. At its orifice reappeared the gold, spouting up furious andfuming, as if insulted by the vile metal which confined it.
"Number two," said Balsamo, passing to the second mold, which he filledwith the same skill and strength.
Perspiration streamed from the founder, while the beholder crossedhimself, in the shadow.
It was truly a picture of wild and majestic horror. Illumined bythe yellow gleams of the metallic flame, the operator resembled thecondemned souls writhing in the Infernos of Dante and Michelangelo,in their caldrons. Add to this the sensation of what was in progressbeing unheard-of. Balsamo did not stop to take breath between the twodrawings of the charges, for time pressed.
"There is little loss," observed he, after filling the second mold. "Ilet the boiling go on the hundredth of a minute too long."
"The hundredth of a minute?" repeated the cardinal, not trying toconceal his stupefaction.
"Trifles are enormous in the hermetical art," replied the magiciansimply; "but anyway, here are two crucibles empty and two ingots cast,and they amount to a hundred weight of fine gold."
Seizing the first mold with the powerful tongs, he threw it into atub of water, which seethed and steamed for a long time; at lengthhe opened it, and drew out an ingot of purest gold in the shape of asugarloaf, flattened at both ends.
"We shall have to wait nearly an hour for the other two," said Balsamo."While waiting, would your eminence not like to sit down and breathethe fresh air?"
"And this is gold!" said the cardinal, without replying, which made thehearer s
mile, for he had firm hold of him now.
"Does your eminence doubt?"
"Science has so many times been deceived."
"You are not speaking your mind wholly," said Balsamo. "You supposethat I cheat you, but do so with full knowledge. My lord, I shouldlook very small to myself if I acted thus, for my ambition would thenbe restricted by the walls of this foundry, whence you would go forthto give the rest of your admiration to the first juggler at the streetcorner. Come, come! honor me better, my prince, and take it that Iwould cheat you more skillfully and with a higher aim if cheating wasintended by me. At all events your eminence knows how to test gold?"
"By the touchstone, of course."
"Has not my lord made the application of the lunar caustic to theSpanish gold coins much liked at card-play on account of the gold beingthe finest, but among which a lot of counterfeits have got afloat?"
"This indeed has happened me."
"Well, here is acid, and a bluestone, my lord."
"No, I am convinced."
"My lord, do me the pleasure of ascertaining that this is not onlygold, but gold without alloy."
The doubter seemed averse to giving this proof of unbelief, and yet itwas clear that he was not convinced. Balsamo himself tested the ingotsand showed the result to his guest.
"Twenty-eight karats fine," he said: "I am going to turn out the othertwain."
Ten minutes subsequently, the two hundred thousand crowns' worth ofthe precious metal was lying on the damp oakum bed, in four ingotsaltogether.
"I saw your eminence coming in a carriage, so I presume it is inwaiting. Let it be driven up to my door, and I will have my man put thebullion in it."
"A hundred thousand crowns," muttered the prince, taking off the maskin order to gloat on the metal at his feet.
"As you saw it made, you can freely say so," added the conjurer, "butdo not make a town talk of it, for wizards are not liked in France. IfI were making theories instead of solid metal, it would be a differentmatter."
"Then what can I do for you?" questioned the prince, with difficultyhoisting one of the fifty pound lumps in his delicate hands.
The other looked hard at him and burst into laughter without anyrespect.
"What is there laughable in the offer I make you?" asked the cardinal.
"Why, your lordship offers me his services, and it seems more to thepurpose that I should offer mine."
"You oblige me," he said, with a clouding brow, "and that I am eagerto acknowledge. But if my gratitude ought to be rated higher than Iappraise it, I will not accept the service. Thank heaven, there arestill enough usurers in Paris for me to find the hundred thousandcrowns in a day, half on my note of hand, half on security; myepiscopal ring alone is worth forty thousand livres."
Holding out his hand, white as a woman's, a diamond flashed on thering-finger as large as a hickory nut.
"Prince, you cannot possibly have held the idea for an instant that Imeant to insult you. It is strange that truth seems to have this effecton all princes," he added, as to himself. "Your eminence offers me hisservices; I ask you yourself of what nature can they be?"
"My credit at court, to begin with."
"My lord, you know that is shaky, and I would rather have the Dukeof Choiseul's, albeit he may not be the prime minister for yet afortnight. Against your credit, look at my cash--the pure, bright gold!Every time your eminence wants some, advise me overnight or the samemorning, and I will conform to his desire. And with gold one obtainseverything, eh, my lord?"
"Nay, not everything," muttered the prince, falling from the perch ofpatronage, and not even seeking to regain it.
"Quite right. I forgot that your eminence seeks something else thangold, a more precious boon than all earthly gifts; but that does notcome within the scope of science as in the range of magic. Say theword, my lord, and the alchemist will become a magician, to serve you."
"Thank you, I need nothing and desire no longer," sighed the prelate.
"My lord," sighed the tempter, drawing nearer, "such a reply ought notto be made to a wizard by a prince, young, fiery, handsome, rich andbearing the name of Rohan. Because the wizard reads hearts and knows tothe contrary."
"I wish for nothing," repeated the high nobleman, almost frightened.
"On the contrary, I thought that your eminence entertained desireswhich he shrank from naming to himself, as they are truly royal."
"I believe you are alluding to some words you used in the PrincessRoyal's rooms?" said the prince, starting. "You were in error then, andare so still."
"Your highness is forgetting that I see as clearly in your heart whatis going on now as I saw your carriage coming from the Carmeliteconvent, traversing the town and stopping under the trees fifty pacesoff from my house."
"Then explain what is there?"
"My lord, the princes of your house have always hungered for a greatand hazardous love affair."
"I do not know what you mean, my lord," faltered the prince.
"Nay, you understand to a T. I might have touched several chords inyou--but why the useless? I went straight to the heartstring whichsounds loudest, and it is vibrating deeply, I am sure."
With a final effort of mistrust the cardinal raised his head andinterrogated the other's clear and sure gaze. The latter smiled withsuch superiority that the cardinal lowered his eyes.
"Oh, you are right not to meet my glance, my lord, for then I see intoyour heart too clearly. It is a mirror which retains the image which ithas reflected."
"Silence, Count Fenix; do be silent," said the prelate, subjugated.
"Silence?--you are right, for the time has not come to parade such apassion."
"Not yet? may it expect a future?"
"Why not?"
"And can you tell me whether this is not a mad passion, as I havethought, and must think until I have a proof to the opposite?"
"You ask too much, my lord. I cannot say anything until I am in contactwith some portion of the love-inspirer's self--for instance, a tress ofher golden hair, however scanty."
"Verily you are a deep man! You truly say you can read into hearts as Iin my prayer-book."
"Almost the very words your ancestor used--I mean Chevalier LouisRohan, when I bade farewell to him, on the execution-stage in theBastille, which he had ascended so courageously."
"He said that you were deep?"
"And that I read hearts. For I had forewarned him that ChevalierPreault would betray him. He would not believe me, and he was betrayed."
"What a singular connection you make between my ancestor and me," saidthe cardinal, turning pale against his wish.
"Only to show that you ought to be wary, in procuring the lock to becut from under a crown."
"No matter whence it comes, you shall have it."
"Very well. Here is your gold; I hope you no longer doubt that it isgold?"
"Give me pen and paper to write the receipt for this generous loan."
"What do I want a receipt from your lordship for?"
"My dear count, I often borrow, but I never fail to write a receipt,"rejoined the prince.
"Have it your own way, my lord."
The cardinal took a quill and scrawled in large and illegible writing asignature under a line or two which a schoolboy would be ashamed of atpresent.
"Will that do?" he inquired, handing it to Balsamo, who put it in hispocket without looking at it.
"Perfectly," he said.
"You have not read it."
"I have the word of a Rohan, and that is better than a bond."
"Count Fenix, you are truly a noble man, and I cannot make you beholdento me. I am glad to be your debtor."
Balsamo bowed, and rang a bell, to which Fritz responded.
Saying a few words in German to him, the servant wrapped up the ingotsof gold in their wads of ropeyarn, and took them all up as a boy mightas many oranges in a handkerchief, a little strained but not hamperedor bent under the weight.
"Have we Hercules here
?" questioned the cardinal.
"He is rather lusty, my lord," answered the necromancer, "but I mustown that, since he has been in my employment, I make him drink threedrops every morning of an elixir which my learned friend Dr. Althotascompounded. It is beginning to do him good. In a year he will be ableto carry a hundredweight on each finger."
"Marvelous! incomprehensible!" declared the prince-priest. "Oh, Icannot resist the temptation to tell everybody about this."
"Do so, my lord," replied the host, laughing. "But do not forget thatit is tantamount to pledging yourself to put out the match when theystart the fire going to burn me in public."
Having escorted his illustrious caller to the outer door, he took hisleave with a respectful bow.
"But I do not see your man," said the visitor.
"He went to carry the gold to your carriage, at the fourth tree on theright round the corner on the main street. That is what I told him inGerman, my lord."
The cardinal lifted his hands in wonder and disappeared in the shadows.
Balsamo waited until Fritz returned, when he went back to the privateinner house, fastening all the doors.