I saw iron ladles, pans full of white sand, files with white metal left glittering in their teeth, molds of plaster of Paris, bags containing the same material in powder, a powerful machine with the name and use of which I was theoretically not unacquainted, white metal in a partially-fused state, bottles of aquafortis, dies scattered over a dresser, crucibles, sandpaper, bars of metal, and edged tools in plenty, of the strangest construction.  I was not at all a scrupulous man, as the reader knows by this time; but when I looked at these objects, and thought of Alicia, I could not for the life of me help shuddering.  There was not the least doubt about it, even after the little I had seen:  the important chemical pursuits to which Doctor Dulcifer was devoting himself, meant, in plain English and in one word—­Coining.

Did Alicia know what I knew now, or did she only suspect it?

Whichever way I answered that question in my own mind, I could be no longer at any loss for an explanation of her behavior in the meadow by the stream, or of that unnaturally gloomy, downcast look which overspread her face when her father’s pursuits were the subject of conversation.  Did I falter in my resolution to marry her, now that I had discovered what the obstacle was which had made mystery and wretchedness between us?  Certainly not.  I was above all prejudices.  I was the least particular of mankind.  I had no family affection in my way—­and, greatest fact of all, I was in love.  Under those circumstances what Rogue of any spirit would have faltered?  After the first shock of the discovery was over, my resolution to be Alicia’s husband was settled more firmly than ever.

There was a little round table in a corner of the room furthest from the door, which I had not yet examined.  A feverish longing to look at everything within my reach—­to penetrate to the innermost recesses of the labyrinth in which I had involved myself—­consumed me.  I went to the table, and saw upon it, ranged symmetrically side by side, four objects which looked like thick rulers wrapped up in silver paper.  I opened the paper at the end of one of the rulers, and found that it was composed of half-crowns.  I had closed the paper again, and was just raising my head from the table over which it had been bent, when my right cheek came in contact with something hard and cold.  I started back—­looked up—­and confronted Doctor Dulcifer, holding a pistol at my right temple.

CHAPTER IX.

THE doctor (like me) had his shoes off.  The doctor (like me) had come in without making the least noise.  He cocked the pistol without saying a word.  I felt that I was probably standing face to face with death, and I too said not a word.  We two Rogues looked each other steadily and silently in the face—­he, the mighty and prosperous villain, with my life in his hands:  I, the abject and poor scamp, waiting his mercy.