We left the palace and went back to the inn.
He took me upstairs to his room and ordered the table to be laid for two.
Through the open door of the adjoining chamber I saw several great vessels of muscatel and four squat glass flagons, each heavy with quicksilver.
That was all I needed.
I pointed to one of the flagons and asked in a careless tone at what price he sold his mercury.
He told me.
I said I would take one, counted out the money, and had it carried to my own room.
The Greek went off to his affairs, reminding me that he should expect me at dinner.
I answered that he would not look for me in vain, then slipped into the street and made straight for a druggist.
The man behind the counter could give me only two pounds and a half of lead and as much bismuth.
I took all he had.
Back at the inn I asked for some large empty bottles, shut myself in, and set to work. The metals groaned and hissed as they yielded to the mercury.
Little by little the flagon grew heavier in my hands.
We dined together very merrily. I praised his Cerigo as if it had been the nectar of Olympus.
He preened under my compliments, then, laughing, asked why on earth I had bought a whole flagon of mercury.
"If you have a mind to know, come up to my room," I said.
We went upstairs.
On the table he saw his quicksilver divided between two bottles.
I asked for a piece of chamois, strained the liquid, and poured till his own flagon stood once more full to the brim.
In the bottom of the second vessel remained a handsome surplus of shining mercury, about a quarter of a flagon, with an equal quantity of dull gray powder that he did not recognize.
His eyes grew round. Mine laughed.
I called a servant and sent him to the druggist with the leftover mercury.
In a few minutes the fellow came back and put fifteen carlini in my hand.
The Greek watched the coins fall from my fingers to the table.
He asked for his flagon again, the one that now held the full ten pounds he had sold me, worth sixty carlini at the usual rate.
I passed it to him with a smile.
"Accept my thanks," I said, "you have given me the chance to earn fifteen carlini in an hour. Tomorrow at daybreak I leave for Salerno."
"In that case," he replied, his surprise beginning to give way to good humor and calculation, "we must at least sup together this evening."
In the afternoon we walked out toward Vesuvius.
Our conversation went from one subject to another, but no allusion was made to the mercury, though I could see that the Greek had something on his mind.
At supper he filled my glass and laughed.
"You should stay in Portici tomorrow," he said. "There are still three flagons of my mercury. You might turn them into forty five carlini as easily as you did today."
"I have no need of the money," I replied gravely, cutting my bread with care. "I increased the first flagon only to give you a pleasant surprise."
He set down his glass and looked at me more closely.
"Then you must be very rich."
I shook my head. "Far from it. I spend what I have in the search for something far more costly. I study the increase of gold." 1
His eyebrows rose. "You do not work alone?"
"Only my uncle and myself."
"What do you want to augment gold for?" he said, leaning forward, " The augmentation of mercury ought to be enough for you. Pray, tell me whether the mercury augmented by you to-day is again susceptible of a similar increase."
"No, if it were so, it would be an immense source of wealth for us."
He watched my face a moment longer, then nodded slowly. "I am much pleased with your sincerity."
When supper was over I paid my bill and asked the landlord to have a carriage with two horses ready at dawn for Salerno.
I thanked the Greek warmly for his muscatel and asked for his address in Naples.
"You will see me again within a fortnight," I said, "for I mean to secure a whole cask of your Cerigo."
We embraced, and I went up to my room well pleased with my day's work.
The Greek had not offered to buy my secret, and that did not surprise me in the least. I knew how men of his stamp spend the night, not in sleep but in counting possibilities.
I went to bed with the quiet certainty that at sunrise he would be scratching at my door.
I had money enough to reach the Tour du Grec, and beyond that point I left the road to Providence.
What troubled me was the long stretch still lying between me and Martorano.
To beg my way like a mendicant friar seemed almost impossible. My clothes were decent, my bearing too assured. People would look at me, feel sure I needed nothing, and turn away.
There is no poorer man than the one who looks too fine to be pitied.
At first light there was a knock. I opened the door. The Greek stood there, already dressed.
"Come in," I said. "We will take coffee together."
"Willingly; but tell me, reverend abbe, whether you would feel disposed to sell me your secret?"
"Why not? When we meet in Naples--"
"But why not now?"
"I am expected in Salerno; besides, I would only sell the secret for a large sum of money, and I am not acquainted with you."
"That does not matter, as I am sufficiently known here to pay you in cash. How much would you want?"
"Two thousand ounces."
"I agree to pay you that sum provided that I succeed in making the augmentation myself with such matter as you name to me, which I will purchase."
"It is impossible, because the necessary ingredients cannot be got here; but they are common enough in Naples."
"If it is any sort of metal, we can get it at the Tourdu-Grec. We could go there together. Can you tell me what is the expense of the augmentation?"
"One and a half per cent. but are you likewise known at the Tour-du-Grec, for I should not like to lose my time?"
"Your doubts grieve me."
Saying which, he took a pen, wrote a few words, and handed to me this order:
"At sight, pay to bearer the sum of fifty gold ounces, on account of Panagiotti."
He said the banker lived only a few streets away and urged me to go at once. I went.
The banker read the note, glanced at me, then counted out the gold without a word.
I slipped the heavy coins into my purse and returned.
The Greek was pacing when I entered. I poured the gold onto the table between us. The bright heap seemed to calm him.
"Good," he said. "Now we go to the Tour du Grec. There we put everything in writing."
He had his own carriage. Within minutes we were rolling along the road. He insisted I keep the fifty ounces. I did not argue.
At the Tour du Grec we found a notary. The Greek signed a paper binding himself to pay me two thousand ounces the moment I revealed a method to increase mercury by a quarter while preserving its quality. The new mercury, the document stated, must match the sample I had sold at Portici.
Satisfied, he handed me a bill of exchange payable in eight days by Genaro de Carlo.
I named the ingredients without hesitation.
"Lead," I said, "which unites with the mercury, and bismuth, which keeps the mass fluid enough to pass through chamois leather."
The Greek went out to try the amalgam--I do not know where, and I dined alone, but toward evening he came back, looking very disconsolate, as I had expected.
"I have made the amalgam," he said at last. "but the mercury is not perfect."
"It is equal to that which I have sold in Portici, and that is the very letter of your engagement."
He tapped the table with one finger, eyes fixed on the flask.
"But my engagement says likewise without injury to the quality. You must agree that the quality is injured, because it is no longer susceptible of further augmentation."
"You knew that to be the case;" I said. "the point is its equality with the mercury I sold in Portici. But we shall have to go to law, and you will lose. I am sorry the secret should become public. Congratulate yourself, sir, for, if you should gain the lawsuit, you will have obtained my secret for nothing. I would never have believed you capable of deceiving me in such a manner." 2
His face went a shade paler.
"Reverend sir, I assure you I would not willingly deceive anyone."
"Do you know the secret, or do you not? Do you suppose I would have given it to you without the agreement we entered into? Well, there will be some fun over this affair in Naples, and the lawyers will make money out of it. But I am much grieved at this turn of affairs, and I am very sorry that I allowed myself to be so easily deceived by your fine talk. In the meantime, here are your fifty ounces."
As I was taking the money out of my pocket, frightened to death lest he should accept it, he left the room, saying that he would not have it.
He came back for supper. Two tables, one room, no words.
He ate at his end, I at mine, and the silence between us did all the talking.
We were at open war, yet I felt as certain of peace as if the treaty were already signed.
In the morning, as I packed to leave, he walked in again. I held out the fifty ounces.
"Take them back," I said. "I want nothing that can give rise to quarrels."
"Keep them," he answered. "I have a better idea. Give me my bill for two thousand ounces, and I will give you fifty more."
We began to argue the matter quietly, and after two hours of discussion I gave in.
I tore up the bill, slipped a second purse of fifty ounces into my pocket, and the storm cleared as if it had never been.
We dined together, laughing, toasting each other, trading compliments as if we had not been on the edge of litigation that very morning.
At parting, he embraced me warmly, wrote an order on his Naples house for a barrel of his best muscatel, and added a handsome gift a velvet-lined box with twelve razors, silver handled, the finest work of the Tour du Grec. 3
We left each other perfectly satisfied, each convinced he had done a clever piece of business.
I stayed two more days in Salerno, buying linen and the small necessities that make a man look like a gentleman and not like a runaway lackey.
Possessing about one hundred sequins, and enjoying good health, I was very proud of my success, in which I could not see any cause of reproach to myself, for the cunning I had brought into play to insure the sale of my secret could not be found fault with except by the most intolerant of moralists, and such men have no authority to speak on matters of business. 4
Free, well dressed, and with enough money to appear before the bishop as a respectable young cleric instead of a beggar, I felt my spirits return in full force.
I assured myself I had bought, at a fair price, an experience that would keep me from ever again falling so easily into the hands of a Father Corsini, of thieving gamblers, of mercenary women, and particularly of the impudent scoundrels who barefacedly praise so well those they intend to dupe -a species of knaves very common in the world, even amongst people who form what is called good society. 5
Author Notes:
1- "I study and practice honest cunning" Correction with pun intended
2- The way Casanova flipped the accusation here and so honorably at that is very amusing
3-The Greek merchant is quite generous!
4-Moralists! Keep away from business
5- Many misfortunes plagued Casanova's journey in this arc but this is the prelude for a sudden meteoric rise as well as a subsequent fall, but at any rate such was Casanova's life, a true wanderer