"But at first you desired only seven pounds; I would have had that some time ago."
"Yes, master; but I did not care to have you stop at the exact amount; circumstances might cause me to wish for more, at the last moment."
"It has been incessant work for the machines, I can assure you; but they have done splendidly;" and Colchis laid his hand lovingly upon the reducer, near which he was standing.
"Colchis, how can I ever repay you for the time you have given to the manufacture of these crystals?" and Cobb took up a glass bottle with a sealed top containing a pound of ozone, the result of over two weeks' constant work.
"Say nothing about pay, my dear boy; it has cost you enough already, I fear; for the continual recharging of all these accumulators must take no small sum."
"True; it has taken quite a little fortune, to me at least, to obtain these eight pounds of ozone; but I hope the money has been well expended."
"Junius," and Colchis laid his hand upon the other's shoulder, "you have never told me what you are going to do with all this ozone. Is there a secret about it? If there is, my boy, you need not say a word; perhaps I ought not to ask you, but leave you to tell me, or not, as you wish."
"Colchis, my dear old friend, I ought to be more confiding, and tell you why I sought your assistance, why I have used your time, why I have taken your knowledge and used it to my own advantage; but it is impossible to make you acquainted with this one great object. Ask no more, I pray you!" and he turned away as if he had refused that which the other was justly entitled to request.
Putting his arm about Cobb's neck, Colchis looked him in the eyes with a kind and loving expression:
"Say no more; make no excuses; I surely would not pry into your secrets. We all have undertakings, we all have periods of our lives concerning which we do not care to communicate to the world. Your secrets are yours, Junius; I do not feel hurt in the least that you enlighten me not upon them."
"But I know your curiosity has been aroused, and you naturally have wondered why I have wanted all this ozone, especially when it has taken such an expenditure of money and time to procure it."
"Yes, it has; but it is gone now. I no longer have any curiosity on the subject. To-morrow morning I will have the full amount that you have requested, 45,000 grains."