ated even the weather-watch which he
now wears constantly in his waistcoat-pocket. At the command of his
Sovereign he may still live to carry out the Fixed Period somewhere
in the centre of Africa."

"Never!"

"In what college among the negroes he may be deposited, it may be
too curious to inquire. I, my friends, shall leave these shores
to-morrow; and you may be sure of this, that while the power of
labour remains to me, I shall never desist to work for the purpose
that I have at heart. I trust that I may yet live to return among
you, and to render you an account of what I have done for you and
for the cause in Europe." Here I sat down, and was greeted by the
deafening applause of the audience; and I did feel at the moment that
I had somewhat got the better of Sir Ferdinando.

I have been able to give the exact words of these two speeches, as
they were both taken down by the reporting telephone-apparatus, which
on the occasion was found to work with great accuracy. The words as
they fell from the mouth of the speakers were composed by machinery,
and my speech appeared in the London morning newspapers within an
hour of the time of its utterance.

CHAPTER XI.

FAREWELL!

I went home to my house in triumph; but I had much to do before noon
on the following day, but very little time in which to do it. I had
spent the morning of that day in preparing for my departure, and
in so arranging matters with my clerks that the entrance of Sir
Ferdinando on his new duties might be easy. I had said nothing, and
had endeavoured to think as little as possible, of the Fixed Period.
An old secretary of mine,--old in years of work, though not as yet in
age,--had endeavoured to comfort me by saying that the college up the
hill might still be used before long. But I had told him frankly that
we in Britannula had all been too much in a hurry, and had foolishly
endeavoured to carry out a system in opposition to the world's
prejudices, which system, when successful, must pervade the entire
world. "And is nothing to be done with those beautiful buildings?"
said the secretary, putting in the word beautiful by way of flattery
to myself. "The chimneys and the furnaces may perhaps be used,"
I replied. "Cremation is no part of the Fixed Period. But as for
the residences, the less we think about them the better." And so I
determined to trouble my thoughts no further with the college. And
I felt that there might be some consolation to