I will pay you with one of my ingots, and
you shall attend me until I am well. Get me an ingot!"
This last command was addressed to Marion, who was still kneeling
close to her father's bedside. I observed her with some curiosity
as this mandate was issued. She became very pale, clasped her
hands convulsively, but neither moved nor made any reply.
"Get me an ingot, I say!" reiterated the alchemist passionately.
She fixed her large eyes imploringly upon him. Her lips quivered,
and two huge tears rolled slowly down her white cheeks.
"Obey me, wretched girl," cried the old man in an agitated voice,
"or I swear, by all that I reverence in heaven and earth, that I
will lay my curse upon you forever!"
I felt for an instant that I ought perhaps to interfere, and spare
the girl the anguish that she was so evidently suffering; but a
powerful curiosity to see how this strange scene would terminate
withheld me.
The last threat of her father, uttered as it was with a terrible
vehemence, seemed to appall Marion. She rose with a sudden leap,
as if a serpent had stung her, and, rushing into an inner
apartment, returned with a small object which she placed in my
hand, and then flung herself in a chair in a distant corner of the
room, weeping bitterly.
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