Early dawn peered through the dark sky like the silvery light of a
pale lamp carried by an advancing watchman,--and faintly illumined
the outline of a long, high, vastly extending wooden building which,
at about a mile distant from Morgana's "palazzo" ran parallel with
the sea-shore. The star-sparkle of electric lamps within showed it
to be occupied--and the murmur of men's voices and tinkle of working
tools suggested that the occupants were busy. The scarcely visible
sea made pleasant little kissing murmurs on the lip-edges of the
sand, and Nature, drowsing in misty space, seemed no more than the
formless void of the traditional beginning of things.

Outside the building which, by its shape, though but dimly defined
among shadows, was easily recognisable as a huge aerodrome, the tall
figure of Giulio Rivardi paced slowly up and down like a sentinel on
guard. He, whose Marquisate was inherited from many noble Sicilian
houses renowned in Caesar's day, apparently found as much
satisfaction in this occupation as any warrior of a Roman Legion
might have experienced in guarding the tent of his Emperor,--and
every now and then he lifted his eyes to the sky with a sense of
impatience at the slowness of the sun's rising. In his mind he
reviewed the whole chapter of events which during the past three
years had made him the paid vassal of a rich woman's fancy--his
entire time taken up, and all the resources of his inventive and
artistic nature (which were exceptionally great) drawn upon for the
purpose of carrying out designs which at first seemed freakish and
impossible, but which later astonished him by the extraordinary
scientific acumen they displayed, as well as by their adaptability
to the forces of nature. Then, the money!--the immense sums which
this strange creature, Morgana Royal, had entrusted to him!--and
with it all, the keen, business aptitude she had displayed, knowing