eeted each other quietly and I
introduced Sarakoff.

"So you are an Immortal, Alice," I said smiling. She gazed at me.

"Richard, I do not know what I am, but I know one thing; I am entirely
changed. Some strange miracle has been wrought in me. I came to ask you
what it is."

"You see that both Professor Sarakoff and I have got the germ in our
systems like you, Alice. Yes, it is a miracle; we are Immortals."

I studied her face attentively, she had changed. It seemed to me that
she was another woman, she moved in a new way, her speech was unhurried,
her gaze was direct and thoughtful. I recalled her former appearance
when her manner had been nervous and bashful, her eyes downcast, her
movements hurried and anxious.

"I do not understand," she said. "Tell me all you know."

I did so, I suppose I must have talked for an hour on end. Throughout
that time neither she nor Sarakoff stirred. When I had finished there
was a long silence.

"It is funny to think of our last meeting, Richard," she said at length.
"Do you remember how my father behaved? He is different now. He sits all
day in his study--he eats very little. He seems to be in a dream."

"And you?" I asked.

"I am in a dream, too. I do not understand it. All the things I used to
busy myself with seem unimportant."

"That is how we feel," said Sarakoff. He rose to his feet and spoke
strongly. "Harden, as Miss Annot says, everything has changed. I never
foresaw this; I do not understand it myself."

He went slowly to the mantelpiece and leaned against it.

"When I created this germ, I saw in my mind an ideal picture of life. I
saw a world freed from a dire spectre, a world from which fear had been
removed, the fear of death. I saw the great triumph of materialism and
the final smashing up of all superstition. A man would live in a state
of absolute certainty. He would lay his plans for pleasure and comfort
and enjoyment with absolute precision, knowing--not hoping--but
certainly knowing, that they would come about. I saw cities and gardens
built in triumph to cater for the gratification of every sense. I saw
new laws in operation, constructed by men who knew that they had
mastered the secret of life and had nothing to fear. I saw all those
things about which we are so timid and vague--marriage and divorce, the
education of children, luxury, the working classes, religion and so
on--absolutely settled in black and white. I saw what I thought to be
the mill