d strength combined, filled the huge space with the free play of
their rosy bodies and the brightness of their genuine gaiety. The Three
Graces formed the human cluster, a hanging group of faces, figures,
shoulders and glorious lines. The program poured out laughter, harmony,
beauty, till, against the blue forest, came the scarlet step-dances of the
Roofers. And then silence: the feature of the evening, the aerobike! There
was a moment's anxiety. A net was stretched above the stalls, from the
footlights to the opening in the roof. For the audience, at any rate, all
danger was removed, even in case of a fall. Then the glass dome above
opened, and the curtain rose on the Elysian glimmer of a scene studded
with stars; and everything was empty, stage and auditorium. The distance
seemed immense: "miles and miles!" The machine was to start out suddenly,
rush through space, disappear up above, like a meteor that shoots out from
infinity and returns to it.

A few seconds passed, during which Jimmy gave Lily her last instructions:

"You're not afraid, Lily? Would you like me to do it?"

Afraid! She turned her calm face to him. Oh, she could have accomplished
impossible and cruel things, braved torture, walked on burning coals! She
felt herself made of supple steel, unerring and exact:

"Up, quick, quick! Ready, Jimmy?"

"Ready!"

"Then ... GO!"

The aerobike flashed like an arrow from the bow, raised itself with a
magnificent jerk; the propeller hummed like a thunder-bolt, the wings
rustled in flight, pointed toward the opening, went up ... up ... up ...
disappeared in the star-strewn sky.... It was done! The band struck up the
triumphal march, Harrasford, the manager, the few who were present all
burst into cheers; and, suddenly, over the house plunged in darkness, from
the back of the stage, came a burst of light. Lily, after running over the
roof and sliding down the pulley, was descending against the blue
back-drop, bringing with her the star! First, one saw the light breaking,
then swelling and increasing in brilliancy, and Lily appeared, a starry
Eve, holding, in her upraised hand, a dazzling luminary, a crystal globe,
which an invisible wire from behind filled with an intensity of light. And
powerful rays shot to every side, end-of-the-world coruscations, above the
crater of the orchestra.

"Splendid!" cried Harrasford. "That dishes the waterspouts at the
Hippodrome, the avalanches, everything!" And, as Jimmy came