“But we thought of that,” she said quickly. “It’s the word ALCOR, isn’t it?”
“Yes: the word ALCOR.”
“Well, what about it?”
“What about it? But it contains everything, that word does! Do you know what it means?” he said impatiently.
“It’s an Arabian word which means a ‘test.’”
“And which the Arabs and all other people use to designate what?”
“A star.”
“What star?”
“One of the stars in the constellation of the Great Bear. But that’s of no importance. What relation could there be——”
Ralph’s lips were wreathed with a smile of pity; and he said patiently: “Of course it’s quite evident that the name of the star could not have any relation with the situation of a block of stone in the open country. One clings to this silly conclusion; and on that side all effort comes to an end. But it is exactly that which struck me when I got the word ALCOR from the five initials of the Latin inscription. Master of the magic word, the talismanic word, and having besides observed that the whole affair turned round the number seven—seven abbeys, seven monks, seven branches of the candlestick, seven stones of seven colors set in seven rings—at once, d’you hear? at once by a kind of reflex action of my mind I knew that the star ALCOR was part of the constellation of the Great Bear; and the problem was solved.”