ed
against small bars of gold which the alchemist places in the opposite
scale until the two are equally balanced. This bar of gold he then
throws into the crucible."

"Oh, he puts gold into the crucible, does he? Where then is the
profit? I thought these necromancers made gold from iron."

"Signor Farini's method is different, your majesty. He asserts that
like attracts like, and that the gold in the crucible will take to
itself the minute unseen particles which he believes exists in all
soils; the intense heat burning away the dross and leaving the refined
gold."

"I see; and how ends this experiment?"

"The residue is cooled and weighed. Sometimes it is double the amount
of gold put in, sometimes treble; and I have known him upon occasion
take from the crucible quadruple the gold of the bar, but never have I
known a melting fall below double the amount collected by the man at
the table. At the final act each noble has returned to him double or
treble the gold he relinquished on entering."

"Where then arises the profit to your Italian? I never knew these
foreigners to work for nothing."

"He says he does it for love of Scotland and hatred of England; an
ancient enemy. Were but the Scottish nation rich, he thinks they could
the better withstand incursions from the south."

"Well, Davie, that seems to me a most unsubstantial reason. Scotland's
protection has been her poverty in all except hard knocks. Were she as
wealthy as France it would be the greater temptation for Englishers to
overrun the country. My grandfather, James the Third, had a black
chest full of gold and jewels, yet he was murdered flying from defeat
in battle. When does this golden wizard fire his cauldron, Davie?"

"To-night, your majesty. That is the reason the nobles of your court
were making sly haste to his domicile."

"Ah, and Sir David Lyndsay was hurrying to the same spot so blindly
that he nearly overran his monarch."

"It is even so, your majesty."

"Then am I hindering you from much profit, and you must even blame
yourself for being so long in the telling. However, it is never too
late to turn one bonnet-piece into two. So, Davie, lead the way, for I
would see this alchemist turn out gold from a pot as a housewife boils
potatoes."

"I fear, your majesty, that the doors will be shut."

"If they are, Davie, the king's name will open them. Lead the way;
lead the way."

The doors were not shut but were just on the point of clo