"Amazing!" and the Marchese lowered his voice to almost a whisper--
"I hardly dare speak of it!--it is like something supernatural! We
have carried out your instructions to the letter--the thing is
LIVING, in all respects save life. I made the test with the fluid
you gave me--I charged the cells secretly--none of the mechanics saw
what I did--and when she rose in air they were terrified--"

"Brave souls!" said Morgana, and now she withdrew her hand from his
grasp--"So you went up alone?"

"I did. The steering was easy--she obeyed the helm,--it was as
though she were a light yacht in a sea,--wind and tide in her
favour. But her speed outran every air-ship I have ever known--as
also the height to which she ascends."

"We will take a trip in her to-morrow pour passer le temps"--said
Morgana, "You shall choose a place for us to go. Nothing can stop
us--nothing on earth or in the air!--and nothing can destroy us. I
can guarantee that!"

Giulio Rivardi gazed at her wonderingly,--his dark deep Southern
eyes expressed admiration with a questioning doubt commingled.

"You are very sure of yourself"--he said, gently. "Of course one
cannot but marvel that your brain should have grasped in so short a
time what men all over the world are still trying to discover--"

"Men are slow animals!" she said, lightly. "They spend years in
talking instead of in doing. Then again, when one of them really