d into gold.

As for Thael himself, he had been careful not to profit by his secret,
for Gildas the Wise had once said to him,--

"Thael, Thael, God does not wish you to change the work of His hands.
Lead is lead, and gold is gold. There is enough gold, and not too much
lead. Leave God's works alone; if not, Satan will be your master."

Most assuredly such precepts would not be well received by modern
industry; but St. Gildas knew what he said, and Thael died of extreme
old age before he had changed the least particle of lead into gold.
This, however, was not from want of will, which was proved after his
death, as the rumor spread about that Thael did not altogether desert
his laboratory, but at times returned to his beloved labors. Many a
time, in the lonely hours of the night, the fishermen, in their barks,
watched the glimmer of the light in his former cell; and Gildas the
Wise, having been warned of the fact, arose one night before Lauds, and
with quiet steps crossed the corridors, thinking to surprise his late
brother, and perhaps ask of him some details of the other side of the
dreaded door which separates life from death.

When he reached the cell he listened, and heard Thael's great bellows
puffing and blowing, although no one had yet been appointed to succeed
him. Gildas suddenly opened the door with his master-key, and saw before
him little Sylvestre Ker actively employed in relighting Thael's
furnaces.

St. Gildas was not a man to give way to sudden wrath; he took the child
by the ear, drew him outside, and said to him, gently,--

"Ker, my little Ker, I know what you are attempting and what tempts you
to make the effort; but God does not wish it, nor I either, my little
Ker."

"I do it," replied the boy, "because my dear mother is so poor."

"Your mother is what she is; she has what God gives her. Lead is lead
and gold is gold. If you go against the will of God, Satan will be your
master."

Little Ker returned to the tower crestfallen, and never again slipped
into the cell of the dead Thael; but when he was eighteen years old a
modest inheritance was left him, and he bought materials for dissolving
metals and distilling the juice of plants. He gave out that his aim was
to learn the art of healing; for that great purpose he read great books
which treated of medical science and many other things besides.

He was then a youth of fine appearance, with a noble, frank face,
neither one-eyed nor lame, an