Syx laughed, and his merriment affected the
visitors so disagreeably that they showed impatience to be
gone. Immediately he changed his manner.
"Come into my office," he said, with a return to the graciousness
which had characterized him ever since the party started from New
York.
When they were all seated, and the doctor had handed round a box of
cigars, he resumed the conversation in his most amiable manner.
"You see, gentlemen," he said, turning a piece of ore in his fingers,
"artemisium is like aluminum. It can only be obtained in the metallic
form by a special process. While these greenish particles, which you
may perhaps mistake for chrysolite, or some similar unisilicate,
really contain the precious metal, they are not entirely composed of
it. The process by which I separate out the metallic element while the
ore is passing through the furnace is, in truth, quite simple, and its
very simplicity guards my secret. Make your minds easy as to
over-production. A man is as likely to jump over the moon as to find
me out."
"But," he continued, again changing his manner, "we have had
business enough for one day; now for a little recreation.
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