But on further reflection his infallible
logic convinced him that the existence of this paper must have ceased at
the same time with that of the Southern mails.
It now remained to perform the morning toilet; and a corps of attendants
conveyed Roseton to his dressing-room. Here the lavish wealth of the
Pont-Noirs found another appropriate field for its display. The floor
was of Carrera marble, curiously tesselated, rising in the centre to the
support of a fountain, where water-nymphs breathed forth shattered
columns of fragrant spray, whose parabolic curves filled a spacious lake
below. Vases of diamond, emerald and ruby crowded the mantles, each
filled with some unknown perfume--the result of Roseton's miraculous
chemistry; for in this science Roseton was supreme. In a single day he
exhausted the resources of American laboratories, and a short visit to
Europe convinced him that henceforth he must be his own instructor.
Savants in vain solicited his formulas. 'Why,' he reasoned, 'should I
furnish children in science with tools of which they can not comprehend
the use?' Delicate tables, chiseled from the humbler gems, were
scattered about the chamber; agate, topaz, lapis-lazuli, amethyst, and a
smaragdus of miraculous beauty.
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