ould have been so generous
if there had been any way to avoid it!"

"No, I suppose not!" Kasia agreed, and set herself to arrange their
belongings--it was almost like fitting up a flat! "This suit-case is
very heavy, father," she added, after a moment. "Will you put it in your
room?"

"Of course," and Vard lifted it, started for the bedroom, and then
turned and placed it on the little table which stood between the
windows. "I will have a look at it, first," he said, loosened the
straps, took a key from a flapped compartment of his pocket-book and put
it in the lock. "One would scarcely believe, Kasia," he added, with a
smile, "that this little bag contains the destiny of the world!"

"No," she said, and came and stood beside him, one arm about him, her
head against his shoulder.

He turned the key and raised the lid. Then he put aside some articles of
clothing and lifted from beneath them an oblong box, open at the ends.
One saw, on looking closer, that the sides of the box were of glass,
partially covered on both sides with tin-foil; and peering in at the
open end, one perceived a vague maze of wires and pinions.

Vard gazed at it for some moments without speaking.

"There it is, Kasia," he said, at last, "the wonder-worker, which,
properly tuned and connected with its batteries, generates a force which
puts an end to armies and to fleets. With it in the world, there can be
no more war--and if there is no more war, there is the end of kings and
tyrants. It is a great thought, is it not, my daughter?"

"A great thought!" she echoed, but her voice was shaking, and she
shivered a little and drew closer to him. "And yet, father, think what
an awful force it would be if it fell into unscrupulous hands! It is
that which makes me tremble sometimes!"

"You do not fear me, Kasia?" he asked reproachfully.

"No, father; of course not!"

He replaced the mechanism, covered it carefully with clothing, closed
the lid, locked it, and returned the key to his pocket. Then he carried
the bag to his bedroom and slipped it under the bed. At last he came
back to his daughter.

"I will not deny, Kasia," he said, "that I have been tempted, more than
once. Not by the prospect of wealth or power--those cannot tempt me; but
by the thought that, after subduing the world, I might 're-mould it
nearer to the heart's desire.' And yet how vain to fancy that I or any
man possesses the wisdom to do that! No; that cannot be. Each nation
mus