allegiance to the party in power. Emboldened by the clemency of the
victors, learning that no rewards for his own apprehension had been
offered, hoping that the stout earl would forget or forgive the old
offence of the waxen effigies, and aware of the comparative security
his friar's gown and cowl afforded him, he resolved one day to venture
forth from his retreat. He even flattered himself that he could
cajole Adam--whom he really believed the possessor of some high and
weird secrets, but whom otherwise he despised as a very weak creature
--into forgiving his past brutalities, and soliciting the earl to take
him into favour.

At dusk, then, and by the aid of one of the subalterns of the Tower,
whom he had formerly made his friend, the friar got admittance into
Warner's chamber. Now it so chanced that Adam, having his own
superstitions, had lately taken it into his head that all the various
disasters which had befallen the Eureka, together with all the little
blemishes and defects that yet marred its construction, were owing to
the want of the diamond bathed in the mystic moonbeams, which his
German authority had long so emphatically prescribed; and now that a
monthly stipend far exceeding his wants was at his disposal, and that
it became him to do all possible honour to the earl's patronage, he
resolved that the diamond should be no longer absent from the
operations it was to influence. He obtained one of passable size and
sparkle, exposed it the due number of nights to the new moon, and had
already prepared its place in the Eureka, and was contemplating it
with solemn joy, when Bungey entered.

"Mighty brother," said the friar, bowing to the ground, "be merciful
as thou art strong! Verily thou hast proved thyself the magician, and
I but a poor wretch in comparison,--for lo! thou art rich and