A violent agitation of the contents of the crucible caused her to leap back hastily. It was evidently caused by mixing the two substances too abruptly.
Soon the disturbance in the crucible subsided. Then the baroness poured the remainder of the stuff into the crucible, leaving the bottle—it was really only a vial—absolutely empty.
There was no further bubbling, but the mixture in the crucible, which had been a dull blue, grew lighter and lighter in color, until it was a very pale green, which in turn resolved itself into a sickly yellow.
As the last tinge of green disappeared, the baroness took another vial from the cabinet. This vial was filled with a liquid that looked like water.
She emptied it all into the crucible.
The liquid immediately took on a rich amber hue. As it did so, she hastily reached for a glass cover, with a small, funnellike hole in the top.
Over this hole she fitted a rubber tube, forcing the other end of the tube tightly into a long, narrow bottle.
Hardly had she secured the tube and lifted the bottle, when a heavy vapor arose inside the crucible, easily visible through the glass top.
The light vapor went swiftly through the tube, and the long glass bottle could be seen filling.
In five minutes the amber fluid had entirely disappeared from the crucible, while the long bottle was full of vapor.