g.

For the first time in the course of their long friendship he fell on the
notary's neck, and told him with wet eyes, and broken voice that he had
reached the happiest hour of his life, for the great work to which he had
already dedicated himself while yet in Padua and Bologna, was completed,
and that only the preceding evening he had achieved the most marvellous
discovery of all times.

One of whose effects would be that a new epoch would dawn for the
profession to which Herr Winckler belonged--that of the law.

Here his friend interrupted him to inquire what this discovery might be,
but Melchior had the force to keep his secret, and only handed over to
him the phial of the elixir, which he had previously packed carefully in
a jewel casket of Bianca's, of Italian workmanship, and then wrapped in
parchment, and tied, and fastened, with many seals.

He also entrusted his school companion with the letters which he had
written, saying that his days were numbered, and giving him many
instructions. Finally he made the notary swear to be a faithful guardian
and second father to Zeno if he should be taken away.

At midnight the friends parted, deeply moved, and Herr Winckler told his
wife that he had never seen any man, let alone the solemn Melchior, so
bubbling over and beaming with happiness, and if one could judge by the
radiance of his glance, and the fire of his youthful enthusiasm, his
friend had many more good years to live.

But what had pleased him in the appearance of the doctor was, alas! only
the expiring flicker of the burnt-out candle.

The intense excitement of the last few days had exhausted the sick man,
and before dawn Frau Schimmel was roused by his bell. When she entered
his room she found him sitting up in bed with burning cheeks and coughing
violently. He called for something to drink, saying that he was dying of
thirst.

When he was refreshed by a glass of wine mixed with water, which in Italy
had grown to be his favourite drink, he said to the old housekeeper that
he would not need to use his son's blood, as his own was equally
efficacious. He also asked her if perchance his father had wounded his
hand before he had discovered the elixir, and when Frau Schimmel stated
that he had, for she remembered the broken glass retort which had cut the
Court apothecary's finger the day before his death, he smiled and said:
"Now the wonderful fact of his discovery is explained. A drop of the
paternal bloo