Mountain Democrat. [volume] (Placerville, El Dorado Co., Cal.) 1854-1860, 1859-02-05


ent recognized the folly of my conduct l
eeah give him no money. never had any
While Re believed that had fourteen thousand
eS,lasa Ny heart was nearly broken when
Soond that he had conceived the most inju.
eiOus saapieions against me. Yet l could not
bln1e him. | could give no account of the
treasure, had permitted him to believe was
O. my possession. must suffer the penalty
Of my fault fAr n uadeceive him would be,
Ill, 70 kill him. remained silent then aud
suffered.
You know the rest You now know why
tt was that was reluctant to give you that
ingOt-why It was that degraded myself so
ar ~ to ak It back. It was the only means
had Of continuing the deception on which
believed my fathers life depended But that
deluslOn has been dispellcd. can live this
life Of hypocrisy no longer. | cannot exist,
and hear my father whom love So, withcr
ne daily with his curses. l will undcc,ivc
him this very day-will you come with ulc,
for fear the effect on his cnfecbled frame!
willingly answered., taking her by the
hand, and think that no absolute danger
need be apprehcnded. Now, Marian add
ed, let me ask forgiveness for having even
for Q moment wounded 10 noble heart You
are truly ~ great q martyr, as any Of those
whose suffcrings the Church pcrpctuatcS in
altar pieces
knew you would do me justice when
yon knew al, she sobbcd, pressing my hand,
but conc. I am OH fire Let us hasten to
my fathers, and break this terror to him.
When we reached the old alchcmist's room,
We found him busily engaged over a crucihc
which was placed on a small furnace, and in
which SOmc indcscri6ablc mixture was boil.
ing.-IIc looked up as we entered
No fear Of inc doctor, he said with CHASTITY
smile, no fear, must not allow little phySi.
cal pain to interrupt my great work, you know.
by the way, you are just in time. In few
moments the marriage of tho Rcd King and
White Queen will be accomplished, as George
Ripley calls the great act. in his book cuti-
tied, The TweIre Gdtes.' Yes, doctor, in
less than ton minutes you will see the make
pure, rod shinging gold! And the poor old
man smiled triumphantly, and stirred his fool
ish mixture with long rod, which he held
with difficulty in his bandagcd hands, 1t was
agrievOuS sight for man Of any feeling to
witness.
Father said Marian in low, broken
voice, advancing little toward the poor old
dupc, I want your forgiveness
'Ah, hypOcrite! for what? Are you going
to give me back my goldg'
No. father, but for the deception that
have been practising on you for two years
Il know i'll knew it, shouted the old
man with radiant countenancc. She has
concealed my fourteen thousand dollars all
this time, and now comes to restore them !
will forgive her. Where are they, Marian Y
Father-it must come out You never
made any gold. II was | who saved thirty.
five dollars, and used to slip them into your
.1NnVN 1,mO1 md
did il only because saw you were dying Of
disappointment. 1t was wrong, knOw-but,
father. meant we'll. You'll forgive me, won't
you!
And the poor girl advanced a step towards
the a;chcmiSt. lie grew deadly pale. and
sta :gcrcd az IL abont to fall. The next in
slant, though, he recovered himself, and burst
into horrible sartlOnic laugh. Then said he
in tones Of the bittcrrst irony:
~ conspiracy, is it! Well done, doctor!-
Yon think to reconcile me to this wrctrhed
girl by trumping up this story, that have
boon fi'r two years . dupe 20 her filial pity.
It's clumsy, doctor, aud is a total failure. Try
again
But I assure you. Mr. Blakclock,' snid
as earnestly rs could, believe your daugh.
tcr's statements to be perfectly true. You will
find it to be so. as she has got the ingOt in her
possession which 80 often deceived you into
the belief that you made gold. and this you
will certainly find that no transmutation has
taken place in your cruciblc.'
Doctor said the old man in tones Of the
most settled conviction, you arc fool. That
girl has whcetllcd you. In less than minute
will turn you out piece of gold, purcr than
any tho earth produces. Will that convince
yOuy
That will convince me- I answered. BY
agesturc, imposed silcncoson Marian, who
was about to spcak--as thought It was bet.
ter to allow the old man to be his own undo
ceiver-and we awaited the cONing crisis.
The old man, still smiling with anticipated
triumph; kept bending eagerly over his cru
sible, stirring tho mixture with his rod and
muttering to himself all the time. Now.
welleard him say, 1t changes. Thcrc-thcrc
II tho scum. And now the green and bronze
e shades fit across it. Oh! the beautiful!
green! The precursor Of the gollcn-red hue.
that tells Of the end attained. All! now the
golden red Is OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES II
doepenS, it shines, it is dazzling! All!
have it! So saying, he caught up his cruel
Die in his chemists tongs, and bore it slowly
toward the table on which stood q brass ves-
sci.
Now, incrcdulous doctor' he cried, come,
and be convinced and Immediately com.
menced carefully pouring the contents Of the
cruciblc into the brass vessel. When the CRU
chile was quite empty, he turned it up and
called me again. Come, doctor, come, and
DO convinced. See for YOURSELF
See FIRST IL there ia any gold in your cru
chile, answered without moving.
He laughed, and shook his head derisivcly,
and looked into the crucible. In moment
he grew pale a. death.
'Nothingv he cried. 'Oh! jest! a jest!
There must be gold somewhere. MariOn!'
The gold is here, father said Marian,
drawing the ingOt from her pocket; it is all
We over had
Abr shrieked the poor old man. as he let
the empty crncible fall, and staggered toward
the ingot which Marian held out to him. lie
made three steps, and then fell on his face.
Marian rushed toward him. and tried to lilt
him, but could not. Iput her gently aside,
and placed my hand on his heart
Marian, said I, 1t is perhaps better as it
Is lie is dead!'