‘I want naught for myself,’ replied the old man with a comic shake of the head, ‘but I have a grand-daughter ready to leave school whom I would wish to enter the said College as a student. It would much oblige me if thou wouldst examine her and judge for which science she is best fitted. She must select one subject and bottom it thoroughly; I think chemistry to be the most preferable.’
‘Chemistry!’ repeated Mercia smiling, ‘why my dear sir, that’s a very big order, for it possesses several important branches, each one a study of itself. One should be selected, and then there’s a possibility of imparting something useful to thy grand-daughter. Nowadays no one has a chance of success if he attempt too much—this is the day of the Specialist!’
‘It isn’t every day one has a chance of a good talk with a lady of such renown as thee, so I will benefit myself by taking the opportunity,’ remarked Sadbag in a tone of great content; ‘I have a grandson also, what shall I do with him?’
‘How old is he?’ inquired Geometrus, who thought it was time to put in an oar.
‘Sixteen, and as comely a youth as ever was seen. But he has no liking for abstruse studies, and it is little use sending him to college with his sister. Can you suggest something that is likely to prove agreeable to his cast of mind?’
‘Article him to a marble manufacturer,’ replied Geometrus eagerly; ‘it is the grandest trade going. We want marbles and granites for every building, nowadays; we cannot obtain enough of them. There is plenty of scope for further invention, for instance, porphyry has not yet been successfully imitated but in appearance only, for it is too brittle for any purpose necessitating strength and durability. A new “Stone Age” is dawning, for not a brick will be used save in the cottage of the poorest. Our large towns and cities will present greater beauty than classic Italy saw in its best days; for they will be filled with splendid halls and residences built apparently of various rare and costly marbles, designed in high artistic form and stately structure. What a wonderful age we are coming to, when the distant sands of Sahara are brought to our shores and reconverted to their original solidity! It is like a fairy tale of ancient days this transformation of the crumbled rock of ages to the original compactness of solid blocks of glittering stone. Who is the sorcerer of the modern time? The Geological-Chemist.
‘Diamond making is as nothing compared with this useful manufacture, for it converts the ugliness of cheap brick buildings into the beauties of palaces. Even the sea sand on our own shores are cleansed and united with chemically prepared material, and made to form a hard and impenetrable silicious stone, more enduring than what it was in its pristine solidity.’
Sadbag looked serious as Geometrus dilated on the usefulness of Geologic-chemistry; then he remarked—‘I imagined that chemistry had attained its limits, and further improvements in manufactures impossible, almost, but I see with your eyes, Geometrus, and quite understand that the world is still in its infancy, although it believes it is acquainted with everything already.’
‘So they thought a hundred years ago!’ observed Geometrus laughingly; ‘the people of that time actually imagined they had scaled the extreme heights of knowledge and there was nothing left to learn. But hark!’ he exclaimed in an excited undertone, ‘there’s a ring at the great door—who comes at this hour? Is it the warrants, I wonder! It is. There are the police,’ continued he as he rose and looked through the window, ‘and the police-van ready to accommodate us! Oh, Mercia is it possible that thou must suffer this degradation?’
‘She shall not!’ exclaimed Sadbag vehemently, ‘as long as there’s a breath left in this body of mine. My first thought was to fly,’ he continued hurriedly, ‘on account of this copy of her letter which I was about sending to the Press for publication; but I will hide it in this vase instead, and get my solicitor to fetch it away afterwards; for I will now stand my ground for Mercia’s sake. She shall be conveyed to prison in her own carriage, or not at all, there’s no law to hinder that, I warrant. We three shall all go together, but I would have preferred my liberty a little longer for I have much to do before getting my incarceration.’