little silver box.

'But it can be made only in trivial quantities, at enormous expense and
with exceeding labour; it is so volatile that you cannot keep it for
three days. I have sometimes thought that with a little ingenuity I might
make it more stable, I might so modify it that, like radium, it lost no
strength as it burned; and then I should possess the greatest secret that
has ever been in the mind of man. For there would be no end of it. It
would continue to burn while there was a drop of water on the earth, and
the whole world would be consumed. But it would be a frightful thing to
have in one's hands; for once it were cast upon the waters, the doom of
all that existed would be sealed beyond repeal.'

He took a long breath, and his eyes glittered with a devilish ardour. His
voice was hoarse with overwhelming emotion.

'Sometimes I am haunted by the wild desire to have seen the great and
final scene when the irrevocable flames poured down the river, hurrying
along the streams of the earth, searching out the moisture in all growing
things, tearing it even from the eternal rocks; when the flames poured
down like the rushing of the wind, and all that lived fled from before
them till they came to the sea; and the sea itself was consumed in
vehement fire.'

Margaret shuddered, but she did not think the man was mad. She had
ceased to judge him. He took one more particle of that atrocious powder
and put it in the bowl. Again he thrust his hand in his pocket and
brought out a handful of some crumbling substance that might have been
dried leaves, leaves of different sorts, broken and powdery. There was
a trace of moisture in them still, for a low flame sprang up immediately
at the bottom of the dish, and a thick vapour filled the room. It had a
singular and pungent odour that Margaret did not know. It was difficult
to breathe, and she coughed. She wanted to beg Oliver to stop, but could
not. He took the bowl in his hands and brought it to her.

'Look,' he commanded.

She bent forward, and at the bottom saw a blue fire, of a peculiar
solidity, as though it consisted of molten metal. It was not still, but
writhed strangely, like serpents of fire tortured by their own unearthly
ardour.

'Breathe very deeply.'

She did as he told her. A sudden trembling came over her, and darkness
fell across her eyes. She tried to cry out, but could utter no sound. Her
brain reeled. It seemed to her that Haddo bade her cover her fa