s--but you speak of ordinary flying machines," said Aloysius,--"This
'White Eagle' is not an ordinary thing. It is the only one of its kind
in the world--the only one scientifically devised to work with the laws
of Nature. You saw it ascend?"

"I did."

"It made no sound?"

"None."

"Then how did its engines move, if it HAD engines?" pursued
Aloysius--"Had you no curiosity about it?"

"I'm afraid I hadn't--I was really too nervous! Morgana begged me to go
inside, but I could not!"

Don Aloysius was silent for a minute or two, out of gentle tolerance.
He recognised that Lady Kingswood belonged to the ordinary class of
good, kindly women not overburdened with brains, to whom thought,
particularly of a scientific or reflective nature, would be a kind of
physical suffering. And how fortunate it is that there are, and always
will be such women! Many of them are gifted with the supreme talent of
making happiness around themselves,--and in this way they benefit
humanity more than the often too self-absorbed student of things which
are frequently "past finding out."

"I understand your feeling";--he said, at last--"And I hardly wonder at
your very natural fears. I must admit that I think human daring is
going too fast and too far--the science of to-day is not tending to
make men and women happier--and after all, happiness is the great goal."

A slight sigh escaped him, and Lady Kingswood looked at his fine,
composed features with deep interest.

"Do you think God meant us to be happy?" she asked, gently.

"It is a dubious question!" he answered--"When we view the majesty and
loveliness of nature--we cannot but believe we were intended to enjoy
the splendid treasures of beauty freely spread out before us,--then
again, if we look back thousands of years and consider the great
civilisations of the past that have withered into dust and are now
forgotten, we cannot help wondering why there should be such a waste of
life for apparently no purpose. I speak in a secular sense,--of course
my Church has but one reply to doubt, or what we call 'despair of God's
mercy'--that it is sin. We are not permitted to criticise or to
question the Divine."

"And surely that is best!" said Lady Kingswood, "and surely you have
found happiness, or what is nearest to happiness, in your beautiful
Faith?"

His eyes were shadowed by deep gravity.

"Miladi, I have never sought happiness," he replied; "From my earliest
boyhood I felt it was