. To be used according
to the directions found in the letter accompanying the casket,
afterwards to be given to his eldest son on his twenty-fifth birthday,
and thus always to be handed down from first-born to first-born, to the
last one, which, please Heaven, will be to the end of Time, in order
that the phial, destined to change the aspect of human life, and lead
it to its true salvation, may remain forever a priceless heirloom in
the Ueberhell family. By means of the accompanying prescription every
experienced chemist will be able to make the elixir in any desired
quantity. My blessing rest upon you, my son, and upon every
Ueberhell who, on his twenty-fifth birthday--that is having reached
maturity--shall receive this little bottle and regard it as the most
precious of all his possessions."

This inscription Melchior's son read with trembling voice, and he was
so deeply moved by the solemnity of his father's words that he did not
perceive his young wife lift the cushion from the casket, examine the
phial with curiosity, and then, having removed the glass stopper with
difficulty, hold the bottle to her dainty little nose.

But she closed the phial as quickly as she had opened for she
experienced so strange a sensation, her blood beat through her veins
so oddly, that, impelled by some inner force, and regardless of the
presence of Herr Winckler, and the tact which she usually displayed, she
cried out: "So that, then, is your inheritance! A bit of coloured glass
which one could buy in the street for a trifle, and a few brown drops
of some stuff which no one knows the use of, now that the directions are
burned."

As Zeno, surprised at these shrill notes which he now heard for the
first time, in his wife's voice, tried to pacify her, saying that no
doubt the liquid possessed marvellous properties, and that they could
not blame his sainted father because an unlucky accident had destroyed
his elucidation of them, and sought to draw her to him, she pushed him
away roughly, and answered with angry scorn: "Sainted, you call the old
man! As if I didn't know that he was a master of all sorts of hellish
arts and black magic! A fig for such saintship!"

They were bitter words, and, like one who has been wandering in sunshine
and suddenly finds himself overwhelmed by blackest night, Zeno felt
himself deprived of strength, the floor seemed to rise, and his knees
trembled.

He grasped the phial, hoping to recover himself by aid