"No!" replied Beatrice, firmly, "I would have it act at once--in a moment, and so potently, that no physician on the earth can find skill sufficient to undo that which has been done."
"Of the latter be quite sure," replied the perfumer. "But with regard to the former, it is much more dangerous, as a sudden catastrophe leads instantly to examination. Now, a few drops of sweet aqua tophana has its calm and tranquillizing effects so gradually, that no doubt or suspicion is awakened; and you can surely wait patiently for a month, or a fortnight, to give it time to act?"
"You mistake," replied Beatrice, thoughtfully; "you mistake: yet say, how are such things managed? Let me hear, that I may judge."
"Why, lady," replied Armandi, with a mysterious smile, "there are secrets in all things on this earth, from the fine composition of a lady's heart, to the simples of poor Armandi. Nevertheless, although the mysteries of the art must remain hidden in my own bosom, as I enjoy the blessing of having been born in the same land with one so beautiful, and as I know that you were deeply beloved by my late royal and honoured mistress, though somewhat frowning on the soft pleasures of her court, I will, without reserve, reveal to you how your purpose may be best effected."
Thus saying, he took a small silver key from his pocket, and opened a Venetian cabinet, that stood near. "See here!" he said, producing a small gilded phial, containing, apparently, a quantity of a perfectly limpid fluid; "see here! the water that Adam found in the first fountain he met in Eden was not more clear than this; and yet the fruit of the tree that stood near it was not more certain death. No odour is to be discerned therein: to the eye it has no colour; to the lip no taste; and yet, like many another thing, with all this seeming simplicity, it is the most potent of all things, having power unlimited over life and death. Three drops of this, in the simplest beverage, will ensure that slow and gradual decay, which, at the end of a year, shall leave him who drinks it a clod in his mother earth. A larger dose will shorten the time by one half; and a larger still will reduce the time to a few weeks or days. The only difficulty is how to give it: but that I will find means for when I know the person."
"It will not do!" replied Beatrice; "it will not do! it is not quick enough. Have you no other means?"
"Many, lady! many!" replied the perfumer, smiling; "but, in good sooth, you are as impatient as a young lover. All our art has been tasked to render the means at once slow and secure, so as, in cases of necessity, to effect our deliverance from enemies without calling suspicion on ourselves. See here! this artificial rose, so like the natural flower, that the eye must be keen, indeed, which, at the distance of half a yard, could detect the difference. The scent, too, is the same----"
"But why do you keep it under that glass ball?" demanded Beatrice, interrupting the long description with which he was proceeding.
"Because, lady," replied the Italian, "that rose, placed in as fair a bosom as your own, and worn there for one half-hour, would lose its scent, and the wearer health and life within a week. Its odour, therefore, is too valuable to trust to the common air."
"And those gloves?" asked Beatrice; "those gloves, so beautifully embroidered, for what purpose are they designed?"