news of this wonderful scientific achievement had petrified us all in complete silence.


As we sat in silence, my brain seemed somewhat numbed and dulled after the exaltation and excitement of the strange revelation. My mental condition was such that I wanted to believe that Henry and his co-worker, Olinski, had done this extraordinary thing, and yet I was unable, somehow, to believe that they had. How could it be possible? And yet it was certainly as possible as it was utterly improbable.

I wondered if the reaction of the others to this tremendous discovery had been similar to mine. As far as the Prince was concerned, it struck me that it had. I had never known him to be so daring, assured, and insolent before, and I felt quite sure that he had shown himself to Henry in such an unfavorable light that his chances for winning Pat's hand had already passed outside the realm of the possible.

Thank God the wretched business was going to end--and yet, and yet ... my mind was just going off on a new tack when, without warning, a thunder-storm broke over our heads. A summer squall, which so often sweeps down on the Sound, playing havoc with all sailing-craft.

Scarcely half an hour before, the sky over us had been serenely starlit and cloudless. Now it had become black as ink and streaked with lightning. The wind howled and the tower seemed to tremble under the heavy assault of the elements.

Before Henry could get the sectional glass roof closed, the rain poured in, collecting in little pools on the floor. Jane climbed up on her chair, fearful of getting her feet wet. Alarmed in the semi-darkness, I managed to find the switch, and turned on all the lights.

To my great dismay, the sudden illumination disclosed that Pat was quite under the Prince's spell again. They were discovered, snuggled together on a divan, the Prince's arm encircling her waist. She extricated herself gracefully, with a half-nervous laugh, and then went back again to his protecting embrace with a little squeal of fright, when a flash of lightning showed through the glass dome like red fire, followed instantly by a deafening crash of thunder that seemed to rend the castle in twain.

"What a relief it would be," said Jane, as she climbed down from her chair, "if the Creator had given us thunderless lightning."

Her feet had no sooner touched the floor when we all, with one accord, 

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