When the welcome morning came I found the doctor and gave him a hearty
grasp to show him that there had been no lapse in my mental condition, but
I asked him to say nothing to Thorwald just at present about my recovery.
Then we hurried down to the reception room and, early as it was, found
most of the household already there. After looking eagerly around and
seeing only those whom I had previously met, I inquired, with as little
apparent concern as possible:

"Hasn't Avis appeared? I thought she was an early riser."

To which Fronda quickly replied:

"Oh, Avis was up half an hour ago, and asked me to excuse her to the
company, saying she was going to spend the morning with a friend she met
yesterday."

This was a hard blow for me, and it was with difficulty that I restrained
my impatience, but I was a little consoled with the idea that the morning
only was to be consumed by this visit, and that we might look for a return
by noon.

After breakfast, when Proctor had gone to the observatory and Fronda and
her daughters were showing Zenith about the house, the doctor begged
Thorwald to resume the talk begun on board the ship, which had been
interrupted by the discovery of land. As Thorwald expressed a willingness
to comply, the doctor continued:

"You were trying to convince me of the probability of life in other worlds
besides the earth and Mars, and in your attempt to show a likeness between
the earth and other parts of the universe, you were speaking on the