“You forget, sire,” said Richard, who
had hitherto silently watched the various parties,
“the object for which we summoned this worthy
man. Please you now, sir, to open that door.”
“No, no!” exclaimed the king, hastily,
“I will have no more provoking the foul fiend;
conspirator or not, I have had enough of Master Warner.
Pah! My poor placard is turned lampblack.
Sweet mother-in-law, take him under thy protection;
and Richard, come with me.”
So saying, the king linked his arm in that of the
reluctant Gloucester, and quitted the room.
The duchess then ordered the rest also to depart,
and was left alone with the crest-fallen philosopher.
My lady duchess’s opinion
of the Utility of master Warner’s
invention, and her esteem for
its—explosion.
Adam, utterly unheeding, or rather deaf to, the discussion
that had taken place, and his narrow escape from cord
and gibbet, lifted his head peevishly from his bosom,
as the duchess rested her hand almost caressingly
on his shoulder, and thus addressed him,—
“Most puissant Sir, think not that I am one
of those who, in their ignorance and folly, slight
the mysteries of which thou art clearly so great a
master. When I heard thee speak of subjecting
Nature to Man, I at once comprehended thee, and blushed
for the dulness of my kindred.”
“Ah, lady, thou hast studied, then, the mathematics.
Alack! this is a grievous blow; but it is no inherent
fault in the device. I am clearly of mind that
it can be remedied. But oh! what time, what
thought, what sleepless nights, what gold will be needed!”
“Give me thy sleepless nights and thy grand
thoughts, and thou shalt not want gold.”
“Lady,” cried Adam, starting to his feet,
“do I hear aright? Art thou, in truth,
the patron I have so long dreamed of? Hast thou
the brain and the heart to aid the pursuits of science?”
“Ay! and the power to protect the students!
Sage, I am the Duchess of Bedford, whom men accuse
of witchcraft,—as thee of wizardy.
From the wife of a private gentleman, I have become
the mother of a queen. I stand amidst a court
full of foes; I desire gold to corrupt, and wisdom
to guard against, and means to destroy them.
And I seek all these in men like thee!”
Adam turned on her his bewildered eyes, and made no
answer.
“They tell me,” said the duchess, “that
Henry of Windsor employed learned men to transmute
the baser metals into gold. Wert thou one of
them?”
“No.”
“Thou knowest that art?”
“I studied it in my youth, but the ingredients
of the crucible were too costly.”
“Thou shalt not lack them with me. Thou
knowest the lore of the stars, and canst foretell
the designs of enemies,—the hour whether
to act or to forbear?”
