s," is the general verdict on all events and circumstances.
Nevertheless, the size, the swiftness and soundlessness of the "White
Eagle" and the secrecy observed in its making, had somewhat moved the
heavy lump of human dough called "society," and the whispered novelty
of Morgana's invention had reached Rome and Paris, nay, almost London,
without her consent or knowledge. So that she was more or less deluged
with letters; and noted scientists, both in France and Italy, though
all incredulous as to her attainment, made it a point of "business" to
learn all they could about her, which was not much more than can be
usually learned about any wealthy woman or man with a few whims to
gratify. A murderer gains access to the whole press,--his look, his
manner, his remarks, are all carefully noted and commented upon,--but a
scientist, an explorer, a man or woman whose work is that of
beneficence and use to humanity, is barely mentioned except in the way
of a sneer. So it often chances that the public know nothing of its
greatest till they have passed beyond the reach of worldly honour.

Morgana, however, had no desire that her knowledge or attainment should
be admitted or praised. She was entirely destitute of ambition. She had
read too much and studied too deeply to care for so-called "fame,"
which, as she knew, is the mere noise of one moment, to be lost in
silence the next. She was self-centered and yet not selfish. She felt
that to understand her own entity, its mental and physical composition,
and the possibilities of its future development, was sufficient to fill
her life--that life which she quite instinctively recognised as bearing
within itself the seed of immortality. Her strange interview with the
"Voice" from the City in the Desert, and the glimpse she had been
permitted to see of the owner of that voice, had not so much surprised
her as convinced her of a theory she had long held,--namely that there
were other types of the human race existing, unknown to the generality
of ordinary men and women--types that were higher in their organisation
and mental capacity,--types which by reason of their very advancement
kept themselves hidden and aloof from modern civilisation. And she
forthwith plunged anew into the ocean of scientific problems, where she
floated like a strong swimmer at ease with her mind upturned to the
stars.

Yet she did not neglect the graceful comforts and elegancies of the
Palazzo d'Oro, and life went