And this has lasted for thirteen hundred years; therefore you may well
think there is a story connected with it.
When Martin Ker, the husband of Dame Josserande, died, their son
Sylvestre was only seven years old. The widow was obliged to give up the
guardianship of the great door to a man-at-arms, and retire to the
tower, which was her inheritance; but little Sylvestre Ker had
permission to follow the studies in the convent school.
The boy showed natural ability, but he studied little except in the
class of chemistry, taught by an old monk named Thaël, who was said to
have discovered the secret of making gold out of lead by adding to it a
certain substance which no one but himself knew; for certainly, if the
fact had been communicated, all the lead in the country would have been
quickly turned into gold.
As for Thaël himself, he had been careful not to profit by his secret,
for Gildas the Wise had once said to him,--
"Thaël, Thaël, God does not wish you to change the work of His hands.
Lead is lead, and gold is gold. There is enough gold, and not too much
lead. Leave God's works alone; if not, Satan will be your master."
Most assuredly such precepts would not be well received by modern
industry; but St. Gildas knew what he said, and Thaël died of extreme
old age before he had changed the least particle of lead into gold.
This, however, was not from want of will, which was proved after his
death, as the rumor spread about that Thaël did not altogether desert
his laboratory, but at times returned to his beloved labors. Many a
time, in the lonely hours of the night, the fishermen, in their barks,
watched the glimmer of the light in his former cell; and Gildas the
Wise, having been warned of the fact, arose one night before Lauds, and
with quiet steps crossed the corridors, thinking to surprise his late
brother, and perhaps ask of him some details of the other side of the
dreaded door which separates life from death.
When he reached the cell he listened, and heard Thaël's great bellows
puffing and blowing, although no one had yet been appointed to succeed
him. Gildas suddenly opened the door with his master-key, and saw before
him little Sylvestre Ker actively employed in relighting Thaël's
furnaces.
St. Gildas was not a man to give way to sudden wrath; he took the child
by the ear, drew him outside, and said to him, gently,--
"Ker, my little Ker, I know what you are attempting and what tempts you
to make the effort; but God does not wish it, nor I either, my little
Ker."
"I do it," replied the boy, "because my dear mother is so poor."
"Your mother is what she is; she has what God gives her. Lead is lead
and gold is gold. If you go against the will of God, Satan will be your
master."
Little Ker returned to the tower crestfallen, and never again slipped
into the cell of the dead Thaël; but when he was eighteen years old a
modest inheritance was left him, and he bought materials for dissolving
metals and distilling the juice of plants. He gave out that his aim was
to learn the art of healing; for that great purpose he read great books
which treated of medical science and many other things besides.
He was then a youth of fine appearance, with a noble, frank face,
neither one-eyed nor lame, and led a retired life with his mother, who
ardently loved her only son.
No one visited them in the tower except the laughing Matheline, the
heiress of the tenant of Coat-Dor and god-daughter of Josserande; and
Pol Bihan, son of the successor of Martin Ker as armed keeper of the
great door.
Both Pol and Matheline often conversed together, and upon what subject
do you think? Always of Sylvestre Ker. Was it because they loved him?
No. What Matheline loved most was her own fair self, and Pol Bihan's
best friend was named Pol Bihan.
Matheline passed long hours before her little mirror of polished steel,
which faithfully reflected her laughing mouth full of pearls; and Pol
was proud of his great strength, for he was the best wrestler in the
Carnac country. When they spoke of Sylvestre Ker, it was to say, "What
if some fine morning he should find the secret of the fairy-stone that
is the mother of gold!"