It appeared as if some fluid had worn away the gold and laid bare the silver. 'Strange!' I thought 'Nothing can dissolve gold--what can this be?' I determined I would ask some clever man about it, and could not rest until I found an opportunity on the following day, under some pretence or other, to repair to the neighbouring town.
I went to the doctor, a venerable old man, and showed him the goblet, without telling him how it had come into my possession; and I asked him what it could have been that had produced the white appearance.
The old man answered smiling, 'It only shows that the possessor is no chemist, but the goblet is not injured, and you have only to let a goldsmith heat it thoroughly.'
'That I cannot exactly tell,' he answered, 'but probably something of quicksilver, which has adhered to the gold--perhaps a solution of corrosive-sublimate.'
'Is not corrosive-sublimate poison?' I asked, horror-struck.
'Yes, certainly it is poisonous--why so?' demanded the old man, surprised at my warmth.
'Nothing!' I replied, trying to regain my composure, 'but tell me, my dear sir! how do people die who have taken this poison?'
'They die,' he said, at last, shrugging his shoulders. 'They die in the most dreadful torments--death is preceded by tremor, and burning in the stomach, and finally by fearful convulsions, which distort the features, and the corpse soon goes to decay.'
Now, all at once a terrible secret was clearly disclosed to me, and almost staggering, I left the worthy old man, who, astonished at my unusual behaviour, seemed to doubt whether I were in my right senses. And he was right, if he did so, for at this moment I was hovering on the brink of insanity. I thank God that I did not really become insane.
Like a spirit of vengeance I flew back to Theodore; I found him sitting on the sofa, and occupied in reading. He rose and came to meet me, with his usual smiling manner. With terrible calmness, and an inward joy, such as a fiend might experience when he is about to crush his victim, I drew forth the goblet, and fixing a look upon Theodore, as if I could annihilate him, I demanded of him with suppressed anger,
'Confess!' I continued; 'confess, Demon! that my sister received her death by means of this goblet!'