the earl's patronage, he resolved that
the diamond should be no longer absent from the operations it was to
influence. He obtained one of passable size and sparkle, exposed it the
due number of nights to the new moon, and had already prepared its place
in the Eureka, and was contemplating it with solemn joy, when Bungey
entered.

"Mighty brother," said the friar, bowing to the ground, "be merciful as
thou art strong! Verily thou hast proved thyself the magician, and I but
a poor wretch in comparison,--for lo! thou art rich and honoured, and I
poor and proscribed. Deign to forgive thine enemy, and take him as thy
slave by right of conquest. Oh, Cogsbones! oh, Gemini! what a jewel thou
hast got!"

"Depart! thou disturbest me," said Adam, oblivious, in his absorption,
of the exact reasons for his repugnance, but feeling indistinctly that
something very loathsome and hateful was at his elbow; and, as he spoke,
he fitted the diamond into its socket.

"What! a jewel, a diamond--in the--in the--in the--MECHANICAL!" faltered
the friar, in profound astonishment, his mouth watering at the sight.
If the Eureka were to be envied before, how much more enviable now.
"If ever I get thee again, O ugly talisman," he muttered to himself, "I
shall know where to look for something better than a pot to boil eggs."

"Depart, I say!" repeated Adam, turning round at last, and shuddering as
he now clearly recognized the friar, and recalled his malignity. "Darest
thou molest me still?"

The friar abjectly fell on his knees, and, after a long exordium of
penitent excuses, entreated the scholar to intercede in his favour with
the earl.

"I want not all thy honours and advancement, great Adam, I want only to
serve thee, trim thy furnace, and hand thee thy tools, and work out my
apprenticeship under thee, master. As for the earl, he will listen to
thee, I know, if thou tellest him that I had the trust of his foe, the
duchess; that I can give him all her closest secrets; that I--"

"Avaunt! Thou art worse than I deemed thee, wretch! Cruel and ignorant I
knew thee,--and now mean and perfidious! I work with thee! I commend
to the earl a living disgrace to the name of scholar! Never! If thou
wantest bread and alms, those I can give, as a Christian gives to want;
but trust and honour, and learned repute and noble toils, those are not
for the impostor and the traitor. There, there, there!" And he ran to
the closet, took out a handful of small coin