his face that almost
amounted to coldness, and no smile lightened it as she met his keen,
fixed glance.

"So you have come to me at last!" he said--"I have not merited your
confidence till now! Why?"

His rich voice had a ring of deep reproach in its tone--and she was for
a moment taken aback. Then her native self-possession and perfect
assurance returned.

"Dear Father Aloysius, you do not want my confidence! You know all I
can tell you!" she said--and drawing close to him she laid her hand on
his arm--"Am I not right?"

A tremor shook him--gently he put her hand aside.

"You think I know!" he replied--"You imagine--"

"Oh, no, I imagine nothing!" and she smiled--"I am sure--yes,
SURE!--that you have the secret of things that seem fabulous and yet
are true! It was you who first told me of the Brazen City in the Great
Desert,--you said it was a mere tradition--but you filled my mind with
a desire to find it--"

"And you found it?" he interrupted, quickly--"You found it?"

"You know I did!" she replied--"Why ask the question? Messages on a
Sound-Ray can reach YOU, as well as me!"

He moved to the stone bench which occupied a corner of the cloister and
sat down. He was very pale and his eyes were feverishly bright.
Presently he seemed to recover himself, and spoke more in his usual
manner.

"Rivardi has been here every day"--he said--"He has talked of nothing
but you. He told me that he and Gaspard fell suddenly asleep--for which
they were grievously ashamed of themselves--and that you took control
of the air-ship and turned it homeward before you had given them any
chance to explore the desert--"

"Quite true!" she answered, tranquilly--"And--YOU knew all that before
he told you! You knew that I was compelled to turn the ship homeward
because it was not allowed to proceed! Dear Father Aloysius, you cannot
hide yourself from me! You are one of the few who have studied the
secrets of the approaching future,--the 'change' which is imminent--the
'world to come' which is coming! Yes!--and you are brave to live as you
do in the fetters of a conventional faith when you have such a far
wider outlook--"

He stopped her by a gesture, rising from where he sat and extending a
hand of warning and authority.

"Child, beware what you say!" and his voice had a ring of sternness in
its mellow tone--"If I know what you think I know, on what ground do
you suppose I have built my knowledge? Only on that faith which you
ca