But Beatrice shrank from this ordeal.
"I have always shown her by my manner that I dislike her. She must think me an odious creature."
"On the contrary," replied Idris, "whenever your name has been mentioned she has spoken well of you, and has expressed herself as desirous of your friendship."
Beatrice was finally persuaded into promising that she would pay the new viscountess a visit on the morrow: after which, Godfrey, turning to Idris, addressed himself to a new theme.
"I spent this morning," he said, "in my laboratory over that piece of steel taken from your so-called Viking's skull, and I have discovered it to be of modern fabrication."
"Ah! and how do you prove it?" said Idris, preparing to argue the point.
"Chemical analysis shows that the steel contains two per cent. of platinum."
"What of that?" said Idris bluntly.
"Much. Platinum is a metal of modern discovery, first hit on in the year—well, I forget the exact date, some time about the beginning of the eighteenth century. Therefore, any steel that is combined with platinum must have been forged within the past two hundred years, and consequently cannot be a relic of Norse days."
"For what purpose is platinum mixed with the steel?"