ience that they alone lived for. I had no doubt that in early times
there was an immensity of superstition mingled with their science.

Nevertheless, thought I, is it possible that so many clever men should
have wasted their whole lives in study and have been just upon the point
of discovering the secret if there were really nothing in it at all? I
inquired of a chemist in our town whether he believed in the possibility
of making gold. He told me that he did not; but then a learned man with
whom I once conversed said that he was of opinion that it _was_
possible, but added that if the secret were discovered it would
certainly be valueless.

I preferred leaning towards the opinion of the learned man who believed
in the possibility of making gold out of baser metals, and resolved to
give the study of my life to the discovery of the secret without
letting others know what I was striving after.

It happened that the chemist of our town whose opinion I had consulted
as to the probability of success in alchemy sent his son, with whom I
was rather intimate, to the same school as my guardian had put me at. He
was a lad of my own years, and shared my taste for study. Having much in
common, we soon struck up a warm friendship, which lasted for many
years; in fact, until his death, some fifteen years back. I may assert
that he was the only friend I ever had in my youth, for I was a reserved
lad, and did not court friendship. He, too, was reserved, and sought no
other friend but myself.

We were always in each other's company, and used to be nicknamed Castor
and Pollux by the other boys. They could none of them understand why we
two withdrew ourselves from the rest and refused to join in their games,
and they wondered much what we found to talk about one to the other. We
were both looked upon as unsociable, and accordingly disliked.

We both of us had high aspirations, and each of us felt the value of his
existence, and that high honours awaited him in posterity, if not in
this life, provided that he made the best use of his abilities. We might
each of us have been about fifteen, when we swore an eternal friendship,
and likewise to keep secret from others the nature of our studies. When
I returned home from school for good--being then about seventeen--my
uncle the admiral was in despair at finding me more than ever confirmed
in my views of a studious life, and said I had disappointed his hopes,
and that I need henceforth hope f