he steps to the balcony, I beheld a large high-speed aerenoid resting a
short distance from mine. This, Zarlah begged me to take, explaining
that by rising a few hundred feet above the elevation of small
aerenoids, I could safely exceed the customary speed of local traffic.
She explained that her brother had just returned in it from the north,
where he had spent the day in the enjoyment of winter pastimes.

My heart was too full of the sorrow of parting to be aroused to
enthusiasm at even such a wonder as this, and, realizing that I would be
unaccustomed to an aerenoid that was strange to Almos, I decided to
trust to the smaller one reaching the observatory in time. But not a
moment was to be lost, and, begging Zarlah to be courageous until my
return the following evening, I pressed her to my heart in a last fond
embrace.

Oh! the agony of that moment, as I felt the slender form in my arms
convulsed with sobs, while I, struggling frantically with the emotions
that tore my heart, whispered words of passionate love; and as at last I
rose in the night air, condemned by Fate to journey millions of miles
from her I adored, my soul cried out in its anguish:

"'Ah, Love! could thou and I with Fate conspire
To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire,
Would not we shatter it to bits--and then
Re-mould it nearer to our Heart's Desire?'"

CHAPTER XI.

THE DISCOVERY AT THE MARTIAN OBSERVATORY.

Although I well knew the fatal consequences of arriving at the
observatory too late, and realized that in this slow travelling aerenoid
my chances of covering the five miles in time were but slight, so
depressed and desperate was I that I gave the matter little thought.
Indeed, my mind was entirely occupied with thoughts of Zarlah. Vainly
did I search Almos' scientific knowledge for a means of transportation
over millions of miles of space. All my theories led to but one
conclusion--that no material transit over such an enormous distance was
possible. My heart sank within me as I thought how brief my happiness
had been. But then came the bewildering realization that an eternity of
loneliness would not be too much to pay for the unutterable joy which
nothing could take from me. Raised aloft to the highest pinnacle of
happiness, I had been permitted to experience the joy of Zarlah's
love--a love that I had thought was for Almos--only to be dashed down
into still deeper despair. Then a great anguish filled my h