loose at the top, and you drop."

BOTH LADIES: "Oh!"

LAWTON: "In three seconds you arrive at the ground-floor, reading
your file of the 'Daily Advertiser;' not an egg broken nor a drop
spilled. I saw it done in a New York hotel. The air is compressed
under the elevator, and acts as a sort of ethereal buffer."

MRS. ROBERTS: "And why don't we always go down in that way?"

LAWTON: "Because sometimes the walls of the elevator shaft give
out."

MRS. ROBERTS: "And what then?"

LAWTON: "Then the elevator stops more abruptly. I had a friend who
tried it when this happened."

MRS. ROBERTS: "And what did he do?"

LAWTON: "Stepped out of the elevator; laughed; cried; went home; got
into bed: and did not get up for six weeks. Nervous shock. He was
fortunate."

MRS. MILLER: "I shouldn't think you'd want an air-cushion on YOUR
elevator, Mrs. Roberts."

MRS. ROBERTS: "No, indeed! Horrid!" The bell rings. "Edward, YOU
go and see if that's Aunt Mary."