. Ilion House, the residence of one
of our great merchant princes.... Terrace above terrace. Reaching to the
heavens.... Kingdoms Caesar never knew.... A great poet, George. Zzzz.
Kingdoms Caesar never knew.... Under entirely new management.

"Greatness....Millions... Universities.... He stands on the terrace--on
the upper terrace--directing--directing--by the globe--directing--the
trade."

It was hard at times to tell when his sane talk ceased and his delirium
began. The secret springs of his life, the vain imaginations were
revealed. I sometimes think that all the life of man sprawls abed,
careless and unkempt, until it must needs clothe and wash itself
and come forth seemly in act and speech for the encounter with one's
fellow-men. I suspect that all things unspoken in our souls partake
somewhat of the laxity of delirium and dementia. Certainly from those
slimy, tormented lips above the bristling grey beard came nothing but
dreams and disconnected fancies....

Sometimes he raved about Neal, threatened Neal. "What has he got
invested?" he said. "Does he think he can escape me?... If I followed
him up.... Ruin. Ruin.... One would think _I_ had taken his money."

And sometimes he reverted to our airship flight. "It's too long, George,
too long and too cold. I'm too old a man--too old--for this sort of
thing.... You know you're not saving--you're killing me."

Towards the end it became evident our identity was discovered. I found
the press, and especially Boom's section of it, had made a sort of hue
and cry for us, sent special commissioners to hunt for us, and though
none of these emissaries reached us until my uncle was dead, one felt
the forewash of that storm of energy. The thing got into the popular
French press. People became curious in their manner towards us, and a
number of fresh faces appeared about the weak little struggle that went
on in the closeness behind the curtains of the bed. The young doctor
insisted on consultations, and a motor-car came up from Biarritz,
and suddenly odd people with questioning eyes began to poke in with
inquiries and help. Though nothing was said, I could feel that we were
no longer regarded as simple middle-class tourists; about me, as I went,
I perceived almost as though it trailed visibly, the prestige of Finance
and a criminal notoriety. Local personages of a plump and prosperous
quality appeared in the inn making inquiries, the Luzon priest became
helpful, people watched