f them, and soon the alleged Italian began to
be embarrassed in keeping up the pace he had set for himself. It
required now an enormous sum to pay even double the amount taken at
the door. The necromancer announced that the meetings would be held
less often, but the nobles would not have it so. Then his experiments
became less and less successful. One night the bonus amounted only to
half the coins given to the treasurer, and then there were ominous
grumblings. At the next meeting the bare amount paid in was given
back, and the deep roar of resentment which greeted this proclamation
made the foreigner tremble in his red robe. The ambassador was sending
messenger after messenger to France, and looked anxiously for their
return, while the necromancer did everything to gain time. At last
there came an experiment which failed entirely; no gold was produced
in the crucible. The alchemist begged for a postponement, but
swords flashed forth and he was compelled on the spot to renew his
incantation. If gold could be made on one occasion why not on another?
cried the barons with some show of reason. The conjurer had conjured
up a demon he could not control; the demon of greed.

The only man about the court who seemed to know nothing of what was
going forward was the king himself. The French ambassador narrowly
watched his actions, but James was the same free-hearted, jovial,
pleasure-seeking monarch he had always been. He hunted and caroused,
and was the life of any party of pleasure which sallied forth from the
castle. He disappeared now and then, as was his custom, and could not
be found, although his nobles winked at one another, while the
perturbed French ambassador looked anxiously for the treasure ship
that never came.

At last the nobles, who, in spite of their threatenings, had too much
shrewdness to kill the gold-maker, hoping his lapse of power was only
temporary, forced the question to a head and made appeal to the
astonished king himself. Here was a man, they said, who could make
gold and wouldn't. They desired a mandate to go forth, compelling him
to resume the lucrative occupation he had abandoned.

The king pressed his amazement at what he heard, and summoned the
mountebank before him. The gold-maker abandoned his robe of scarlet
and appeared before James dressed soberly. He confessed that he knew
the secret of extracting gold from ordinary soil, but submitted that
he was not a Scottish citizen and therefore co