power before approaching the Emperor, and plans were made 

 for astonishing the residents of Gold Alley and the court 

 adepts. 



Meanwhile Edward Kelley, true to his vulgar instincts, 

 got into vicious company and spent days in gossip and his 

 nights in low carousels; when excited with drink he boasted 

 of the powers of his master as a diviner of the future and as 

 possessor of the Philosophers' Stone. Moreover money was 

 getting scarce in the 'household of the Englishmen, so a bold 

 stroke was resolved upon. The curious, the credulous, the 

 avaricious and the professional tricksters : 



"Nasty, soaking, greasy fellows, 



Knaves would brain you with their bellows; 



Hapless, sapless, crusty sticks, 



Blind as smoke can make the bricks;" 



assembled by invitation in the laboratory of Dr. von Hayek, 

 built in the basement of his house; after a learned, mysti- 

 fying discourse by Dr. Dee, Kelley, with a few drops of a 

 blood-red oil, converted a few ounces of mercury, heated in a 

 crucible, into shining, yellow gold that stood the tests with 

 hammer and file and drew forth the plaudits of the astonished 

 company. On the surface of the ingot was found a small 

 excess of the tincture glistening like a ruby, proving that an 

 unnecessary amount of the precious oil had been used. The 

 historic verity of this transmutation was confirmed by 

 Nicholas Barnaud, a guest of von Hayek, and by von Hayek 

 himself, whose heirs long treasured a fragment of this her- 

 metic gold. 



The success of this venture placed Dee and his associate 

 on a pinnacle of fame, and the leading residents of Gold Alley 

 besought the court Doctor to arrange a more public confer- 

 ence on alchemy at which they might meet the Englishmen. 

 With great hospitality, von Hayek opened his parlors to a 



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