to find out something else, I fell by accident upon the track of my discovery, and ever since I have devoted my life to the investigation.  It appeared to me of the very highest importance.  As time went on, I grew more and more absorbed in it.  Every hour that I had to give to my official and social duties seemed thrown away.  A man cannot serve two masters, and as I also found it difficult to carry on my experiments in secrecy, I resigned my post.  I had become a citizen of the United States, but my wife was a Welshwoman, and had relations in England.  So we came to London.  When she died, I settled in this isolated spot, where I could study in peace, enjoy the fresh air, and easily get the requisite books and apparatus.  Here, with my daughter, I live a very secluded life.  She is my sole companion, my housekeeper, my servant, and my assistant in the laboratory.  She knows as much about my machine, and can work it as well as I do myself.  Indeed, I don’t know what I should have done without her.  She has denied herself the ordinary amusements of her age.  Her devotion to me has been beautiful.”

The voice of the old man trembled, and I fancied I could read in his hollow eyes the untold martyrdom of genius.

“At last,” he continued, “I have brought the matter into a practical shape, and like many other inventors, for the first time I stand in need of advice.  Happening to see your article in the Magazine, I resolved to invite you to come and see what I have done in hopes that you might be able to advise and perhaps help me.”

“I think,” said I, after a moment’s reflection, “I think the next thing to be done is to make a large working machine, and try it on a voyage.”

“Quite so,” he replied; “and I am prepared to build one that will go to any part of the earth, or explore the higher regions of the atmosphere, or go down under the sea, or even make a trip to one of the nearer planets, Mars or Venus as the case may be.  But I am poor; my little fortune is all but exhausted, and here, at the end of the race, within sight of the goal, I lack the wherewithal to reach it.  Now, sir, if you can see your way to provide the funds, I will give you a share in the profits of the invention.”

I pondered his words in silence.  Visions of travel through the air in distant lands, above the rhododendron forests of the Himalayas, or the green Savannahs of the Orinoco, the coral isles of the Pacific; yea, further still, through the starlit crypts of space to other spheres were hovering in my fancy.  The singular history of the man, too, had touched my feelings.  Nevertheless, I hesitated to accept his offer there and then.  It was hardly a proposal to decide upon without due consideration.

“I will think it over and let you know,” said I at length.  “Have you any objection to my consulting Professor Gazen, the well-known astronomer?  He is a friend of mine.  Perhaps he will be able to assist us.”