sis--"We know that when even one human being is unable to
recognise his best friend we say--'Poor man! His brain is gone!' It's
the same thing with a nation. Or a world! When it is so ailing that it
cannot recognise the Friend who brought it into being, who feeds it,
keeps it, and gives it all it has, we must say the same thing--'Its
brain is gone!'"

Rivardi was surprised at the passionate energy she threw into these
words.

"You feel that deeply?" he said--"And yet--pardon me!--you do not
assume to be religious?"

"Marchese, I 'assume' nothing!" she answered--"I cannot 'pretend'! To
'assume' or to 'pretend' would hardly serve the Creator adequately.
Creative or Natural Force is so far away from sham that one must do
more than 'assume'--one must BE!"

Her voice thrilled on the air, and Lady Kingswood, who was crossing the
loggia, leaning on her stick, paused to look at the eloquent speaker.
She was worth looking at just then, for she seemed inspired. Her eyes
were extraordinarily brilliant, and her whole personality expressed a
singular vitality coupled with an ethereal grace that suggested some
thing almost superhuman.

"Yes--one must be!" she repeated--"I have not BEEN A STUDENT OF SCIENCE
SO LONG WITHOUT LEARNING that there is no 'assuming' anything in the
universe. One must SEE straight, and THINK straight too! I could not
'assume' religion, because I FEEL it--in the very depths of my soul! As
Don Aloysius said the other day, it is marvellous how close we are to
the Source of all life, and yet we imagine we are far away! If we could
only realise the truth of the Divine Nearness, and work WITH it and IN
it, we should make discoveries worth knowing! We work too much WITH
ourselves and OF ourselves." She paused,--then added slowly and
seriously--"I have never done any work that way. I have always
considered myself Nothing,--the Force I have obeyed was and is
Everything."

"And so--being Nothing--you still made your air-ship possible!" said
Rivardi, smiling indulgently at her fantastic speech.

She answered him with unmoved and patient gravity.

"It is as you say,--being Nothing myself, and owning myself to be
Nothing; the Force that is Everything made my air-ship possible!"

CHAPTER XV

Two or three hours later the "White Eagle" was high in air above the
Palazzo d'Oro. Down below Lady Kingswood stood on the seashore by the
aerodrome, watching the wonderful ship of the sky with dazzled, scared
eye