wisdom was not particularly
majestic; but I had intended to allude to the presumed majesty
attached to the highest council in the State.

"Your Assembly in the majesty of its wisdom could do nothing of the
kind. It might pass a law, but the law could be carried out only
by men. The Parliament in England, which is, I take it, quite as
majestic as the Assembly in Britannula--"

"I apologise for the word, Mr Crosstrees, which savours of the
ridiculous. I did not quite explain my idea at the moment."

"It is forgotten," he said; and I must acknowledge that he never used
the word against me again. "The Parliament in England might order a
three-months-old baby to be slain, but could not possibly get the
deed done."

"Not if it were for the welfare of Great Britain?"

"Not to save Great Britain from destruction. Strength is very strong,
but it is not half so powerful as weakness. I could, with the
greatest alacrity in the world, fire that big gun in among battalions
of armed men, so as to scatter them all to the winds, but I could not
point it in the direction of a single girl." We went on discussing
the matter at considerable length, and his convictions were quite as
strong as mine. He was sure that under no circumstances would an old
man ever be deprived of his life under the Fixed Period. I was as
confident as he on the other side,--or, at any rate, pretended to
be so,--and told him that he made no allowance for the progressive
wisdom of mankind. But we parted as friends, and soon after went to
dinner.

I was astonished to find how very little the captain had to do with
his officers. On board ship he lived nearly alone, having his first
lieutenant with him for a quarter of an hour every morning. On the
occasion of this my first day on board, he had a dinner-party in
honour of my coming among them; and two or three days before we
reached England, he had another. I dined with him regularly every day
except twice, when I was invited to the officers' mess. I breakfasted
alone in my own cabin, where everything was provided for me that I
could desire, and always lunched and took five-o'clock tea with the
officers. I remained alone till one o'clock, and spent four hours
every morning during our entire journey in composing this volume as
it is now printed. I have put it into the shape of a story, because
I think that I may so best depict the feelings of the people around
me as I made my great endeavour to carry out the Fixe