versation. "What a
wonderful place!" she said, looking round, with a view to making herself
agreeable by taking an interest in everything. "Wont you explain it all
to me? To begin with, what is electricity?"

Conolly stared rather at this question, and then shook his head. "I dont
know anything about that," he said; "I am only a workman. Perhaps Lord
Carbury can tell you: he has read a good deal about it."

Marian looked incredulously at him. "I am sure you are joking," she
said. "Lord Carbury says you know ever so much more than he does. I
suppose I asked a stupid question. What are those reels of green silk
for?"

"Ah," said Conolly, relaxing. "Come now, I can tell you that easily
enough. I dont know what it _is_, but I know what it does, and I can lay
traps to catch it. Here now, for instance----"

And he went on to deliver a sort of chatty Royal Institution Children's
Lecture on Electricity which produced a great impression on Marian, who
was accustomed to nothing better than small talk. She longed to interest
him by her comments and questions, but she found that they had a most
discouraging effect on him. Redoubling her efforts, she at last reduced
him to silence, of which she availed herself to remark, with great
earnestness, that science was a very wonderful thing.

"How do you know?" he said, a little bluntly.

"I am sure it must be," she replied, brightening; for she thought he had
now made a rather foolish remark. "Is Lord Carbury a very clever
scientist?"

Conolly looked just grave enough to suggest that the question was not
altogether a discreet one. Then, brushing off that consideration, he
replied:

"He has seen a great deal and read a great deal. You see, he has great
means at his disposal. His property is as good as a joint-stock company
at his back. Practically, he is very good, considering his method of
working: not so good, considering the means at his disposal."

"What would you do if you had his means?"

Conolly made a gesture which plainly signified that he thought he could
do a great many things.

"And is science, then, so expensive? I thought it was beyond the reach
of money."

"Oh, yes: science may be. But I am not a scientific man: I'm an
inventor. The two things are quite different. Invention is the most
expensive thing in the world. It takes no end of time, and no end of
money. Time is money; so it costs both ways."

"Then why dont you discover something and make your fortune