Like the snake, I shall cast
my slough, and come forth younger than I was at twenty." "Meantime, I beseech you to render me some assistance," groaned Auriol,
"or, while you are preparing for immortality, I shall expire before your
eyes." "Be not afraid," replied Darcy; "you shall take no harm. I will care for
you presently; and I understand leechcraft so well, that I will answer
for your speedy and perfect recovery." "Drink, then, to it!" cried Auriol. "I know not what stays my hand," said the old man, raising the phial;
"but now that immortality is in my reach, I dare not grasp it." "Give me the potion, then," cried Auriol. "Not for worlds," rejoined Darcy, hugging the phial to his breast. "No;
I will be young again--rich--happy. I will go forth into the world--I
will bask in the smiles of beauty--I will feast, revel, sing--life shall
be one perpetual round of enjoyment. Now for the trial--ha!" and, as he
raised the potion towards his lips, a sudden pang shot across his heart. "What is this?" he cried, staggering. "Can death assail me when I am
just about to enter upon perpetual life? Help me, good grandson! Place
the phial to my lips. Pour its contents down my throat--quick! quick!" [Illustration: The Elixir of Long Life.] "I am too weak to stir," groaned Auriol. "You have delayed it too long." "Oh, heavens! we shall both perish," shrieked Darcy, vainly endeavouring
to raise his palsied arm,--"perish with the blissful shore in view." And he sank backwards, and would have fallen to the ground if he had not
caught at the terrestrial sphere for support. "Help me--help me!" he screamed, fixing a glance of unutterable anguish
on his relative. "It is worth the struggle," cried Auriol. And, by a great effort, he
raised himself, and staggered towards the old man. "Saved--saved!" shrieked Darcy. "Pour it down my throat. An instant, and
all will be well." "Think you I have done this for you?" cried Auriol, snatching the
potion; "no--no." And, supporting himself against the furnace, he placed the phial to his
lips, and eagerly drained its contents. The old man seemed paralysed by the action, but kept his eye fixed upon
the youth till he had drained the elixir to the last drop. He then
uttered a piercing cry, threw up his arms, and fell heavily backwards. Dead--dead! Flashes of light passed before Auriol's eyes, and strange noises smote
his ears. For a moment he was bewildered as with wine, and laughed and
sang discordantly like a madman. Every object reeled and danced around
him. The glass vessels and jars clashed their brittle sides together,
yet remained uninjured; the furnace breathed forth flames and mephitic
vapours; the spiral worm of the alembic became red hot, and seemed
filled with molten lead; the pipe of the bolt-head ran blood; the sphere
of the earth rolled along the floor, and rebounded from the wall as if
impelled by a giant hand; the skeletons grinned and gibbered; so did the
death's-head on the table; so did the skulls against the chimney; the
monstrous sea-fish belched forth fire and smoke; the bald, decapitated
head opened its eyes, and fixed them, with a stony glare, on the young
man; while the dead alchemist shook his hand menacingly at him. Unable to bear these accumulated horrors, Auriol became, for a short
space, insensible. On recovering, all was still. The lights within the
lamp had expired; but the bright moonlight, streaming through the
window, fell upon the rigid features of the unfortunate alchemist, and
on the cabalistic characters of the open volume beside him. Eager to test the effect of the elixir, Auriol put his hand to his side. All traces of the wound were gone; nor did he experience the slightest
pain in any other part of his body. On the contrary, he seemed endowed
with preternatural strength. His breast dilated with rapture, and he
longed to expand his joy in active motion. Striding over the body of his aged relative, he threw open the window. As he did so, joyous peals burst from surrounding churches, announcing
the arrival of the new year. While listening to this clamour, Auriol gazed at the populous and
picturesque city stretched out before him, and bathed in the moonlight. "A hundred years hence," he thought, "and scarcely one soul of the
thousands within those houses will be living, save myself. A hundred
years after that, and their children's children will be gone to the
grave. But I shall live on--shall live through all changes--all
customs--all time. What revelations I shall then have to make, if I
should dare to disclose them!" As he ruminated thus, the skeleton hanging near him was swayed by the
wind, and its bony fingers came in contact with his cheek. A dread idea
was suggested by the occurrence. "There is one peril to be avoided," he thought; "ONE PERIL!--what is it? Pshaw! I will think no more of it. It may never arise. I will be gone. This place fevers me." With this, he left the laboratory, and hastily descending the stairs, at
the foot of which he found Flapdragon, passed out of the house. BOOK THE FIRST

_EBBA_




CHAPTER I

THE RUINED HOUSE IN THE VAUXHALL ROAD


Late one night, in the spring of 1830, two men issued from a low,
obscurely situated public-house, near Millbank, and shaped their course
apparently in the direction of Vauxhall Bridge. Avoiding the footpath
near the river, they moved stealthily along the farther side of the
road, where the open ground offered them an easy means of flight, in
case such a course should be found expedient. So far as it could be
discerned by the glimpses of the moon, which occasionally shone forth
from a rack of heavy clouds, the appearance of these personages was not
much in their favour. Haggard features, stamped deeply with the
characters of crime and debauchery; fierce, restless eyes; beards of
several days' growth; wild, unkempt heads of hair, formed their chief
personal characteristics; while sordid and ragged clothes, shoes without
soles, and old hats without crowns, constituted the sum of their
apparel. One of them was tall and gaunt, with large hands and feet; but despite
his meagreness, he evidently possessed great strength: the other was
considerably shorter, but broad-shouldered, bow-legged, long-armed, and
altogether a most formidable ruffian. This fellow had high cheek-bones,
a long aquiline nose, and a coarse mouth and chin, in which the animal
greatly predominated. He had a stubby red beard, with sandy hair, white
brows and eyelashes. The countenance of the other was dark and
repulsive, and covered with blotches, the result of habitual
intemperance. His eyes had a leering and malignant look. A handkerchief
spotted with blood, and tied across his brow, contrasted strongly with
his matted black hair, and increased his natural appearance of ferocity. The shorter ruffian carried a mallet upon his shoulder, and his
companion concealed something beneath the breast of his coat, which
afterwards proved to be a dark lantern.