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speak, for we had suffered much and our future was dark and uncertain. I do not know when we should have found words and come to our senses, if the maid had not gone off into a fit of hysterics, and awakened us to the necessity of self-control; then briefly and plainly I unfolded what I proposed; I showed her the darkest side, for I felt sure that the darker the prospect, the more likely she was to come. I told her that my plan would probably end in death for both of us, and that I dared not press it—that at a word from her it should be abandoned; still that there was just a possibility of our escaping together to some part of the world where there would be no bar to our getting married, and that I could see no other hope. She made no resistance, not a sign or hint of doubt or hesitation. She would do all I told her, and come whenever I was ready; so I bade her send her maid to meet me nightly—told her that she must put a good face on, look as bright and happy as she could, so as to make her father, and mother, and Zulora, think that she was forgetting me—and be ready at a moment's notice to come to the queen's workshops and be concealed among the ballast and under rugs in the car of the balloon; and so we parted.

I hurried my preparations forward, for I feared rain, and that the king might change his mind; but the weather continued dry, and in another week the queen's workmen had finished the balloon and car. All was ready, and I was to ascend on the following morning. I had had the balloon made of gigantic proportions, and stipulated for being allowed to take abundance of rugs and wrappings as protection