of Oriental leather was in itself a focus which concentrated the
light, and reflected it vividly.

He accounted for this phenomenon categorically to the old man, who
only smiled meaningly by way of answer. His superior smile led the
young scientific man to fancy that he himself had been deceived by
some imposture. He had no wish to carry one more puzzle to his grave,
and hastily turned the skin over, like some child eager to find out
the mysteries of a new toy.

"Ah," he cried, "here is the mark of the seal which they call in the
East the Signet of Solomon."

"So you know that, then?" asked the merchant. His peculiar method of
laughter, two or three quick breathings through the nostrils, said
more than any words however eloquent.

"Is there anybody in the world simple enough to believe in that idle
fancy?" said the young man, nettled by the spitefulness of the silent
chuckle. "Don't you know," he continued, "that the superstitions of
the East have perpetuated the mystical form and the counterfeit
characters of the symbol, which represents a mythical dominion? I have
no more laid myself open to a charge of credulity in this case, than
if I had mentioned sphinxes or griffins, whose existence mythology in
a manner admits."

"As you are an Orientalist," replied the other, "perhaps you can read
that sentence."

He held the lamp close to the talisman, which the young man held