of St. Alwyth would be like enough to raise the cry of magician, and to
take that opportunity of ridding themselves of one they vaguely fear, and
many months ago I made some preparations to meet such a storm and to show
them that a magician is not altogether defenceless, and that the compounds
in his power are well-nigh as dangerous as they believe, only not in the
same way.'

"'Well, I hope that you will find it so if there is any trouble; but I
recommend you, if you hear that there is any talk in the village of making
an assault upon you that you send a messenger to me straightway, and you
may be sure that ere an hour has passed I will be here with half a dozen
stout fellows who will drive this rabble before them like sheep.'

"'I thank you much for the offer, Sir Ralph, and will bear it in mind
should there be an occasion, but I think that I may be able to manage
without need for bloodshed. You are a vastly more formidable enemy than I
am, but I imagine that they have a greater respect for my supposed magical
powers than they have for the weight of your arm, heavy though it be.'

"'Perhaps it is so, my friend,' Sir Ralph said, grimly, 'for they have not
felt its full weight yet, though I own that I myself would rather meet the
bravest knight in battle than raise my hand against a man whom I believed
to be possessed of magical powers.'

"I laughed, and said that so far as I knew no such powers existed. 'Your
magicians are but chemists,' I said. 'Their object of search is the Elixir
of Life or the Philosopher's Stone; they may be powerful for good, but
they are assuredly powerless for evil.'

"'But surely you believe in the power of sorcery?' he said. 'All men know