It's clumsy,
doctor, and is a total failure. Try again."
"But I assure you, Mr. Blakelock," I said as earnestly as I could,
"I believe your daughter's statement to be perfectly true. You
will find it to be so, as she has got the ingot in her possession
which so often deceived you into the belief that you made gold, and
you will certainly find that no transmutation has taken place in
your crucible."
"Doctor," said the old man, in tones of the most settled
conviction, "you are a fool. The girl has wheedled you. In less
than a minute I will turn you out a piece of gold purer than any
the earth produces. Will that convince you?"
"That will convince me," I answered. By a gesture I imposed
silence on Marion, who was about to speak. I thought it better to
allow the old man to be his own undeceiver--and we awaited the
coming crisis.
The old man, still smiling with anticipated triumph, kept bending
eagerly over his crucible, stirring the mixture with his rod, and
muttering to himself all the time. "Now," I heard him say, "it
changes. There--there's the scum. And now the green and bronze
shades flit across it.
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