“By holding a piece of slate over the burning wick of the lamp till there was plenty of soot to be scraped off and mixed up with gum water made from plum-tree gum, the same as I am going to use to mix up these colours, you see.”
As he spoke Swythe took a clean mussel-shell and placed in it a tiny portion of scarlet powder.
“That’s a pretty colour!” said the boy. “What is it?”
“The colour made by burning some quicksilver and brimstone together in a very hot fire till it is red, and afterwards I grind it up into fine dust. Now,” he said, “I’m going to mix this up with gum; and then we’ll paint all the back of the parchment behind the big letter red.”
Alfred watched the monk’s clever touches with the point of his little brush till there was a great square patch upon which the letter seemed to stand.
“Beautiful!” cried Alfred. “Now it’s done!”
“Oh, no,” said Swythe; “that’s the beginning! Now we’ll paint the scroll.”
“Why do you say we” said the boy. “It is you.”
“It’s we, because you are helping me,” said the monk. “Very soon you will be doing letters like this, and then I shall help you.”
Alfred sighed.