“No, indeed.”
“That is well. I want you to go there with me to-day.”
“To that charlatan? Why, Professor Kent, I thought you were a scientific man.”
“Translate ‘science’ down to its simplest terms in Saxon English,” said Kent.
“It would be ‘knowing’, I suppose.”
“Exactly. When I think a man knows something which I wish to know but do not know, I try to possess myself of his knowledge, whether he is microscopist, astrologer, or tinsmith. To that extent I am a scientist.”
“And you expect the stars to tell us something about my lost topazes?”
“They seem to have had some influence on the career of the original owner,” said Kent, with his half smile. “And one star has already lighted up the beginning of the trail for me.”
“I can’t understand your motives,” she said. “But I know that I can trust you. When do you wish me to go?”
“I have an appointment for us at high noon.”