e same position for many minutes.

Awed by the immensity of the universe, the two at the window were
silent, not with the silence of embarrassment, but with that of two
friends in the presence of something beyond the reach of words. As they
stared out into the infinity each felt as never before the pitiful
smallness of even our whole solar system and the utter insignificance of
human beings and their works. Silently their minds reached out to each
other in mutual understanding.

Unconsciously Margaret half shuddered and moved closer to her
companion, the movement attracting his attention but not her own. A
tender expression came into Crane's steady blue eyes as he looked down
at the beautiful young woman by his side. For beautiful she undoubtedly
was. Untroubled rest and plentiful food had erased the marks of her
imprisonment; Dorothy's deep, manifestly unassumed faith in the ability
of Seaton and Crane to bring them safely back to Earth had quieted her
fears; and a complete costume of Dorothy's simple but well-cut clothes,
which fitted her perfectly, and in which she looked her best and knew
it, had completely restored her self-possession. He quickly glanced away
and again gazed at the stars, but now, in addition to the wonders of
space, he saw masses of wavy black hair, high-piled upon a queenly head;
deep down brown eyes half veiled by long, black lashes; sweet, sensitive
lips; a firmly rounded but dimpled chin; and a perfectly-formed young
body.

After a time she drew a deep, tremulous breath. As he turned, her eyes
met his. In their shadowy depths, still troubled by the mystery of the
unknowable, he read her very soul--the soul of a real woman.

"I had hoped," said Margaret slowly, "to take a long flight above the
clouds, but anything like this never entered my mind. How unbelievably
great it is! So much vaster than any perception we could get upon earth!
It seems strange that we were ever awed by the sea or the mountains ...
and yet...."

She paused, with her lip caught under two white teeth, then went on
hesitatingly:

"Doesn't it seem to you, Mr. Crane, that there is something in man as
great as all this? Otherwise, Dorothy and I could not be sailing here in
a wonder like the Lark, which you and Dick Seaton have made."

* * * * *

Since from the first, Dorothy had timed her waking hours with those of
Seaton--waiting upon him, preparing his meals, and lightening the long
h