She laughed again and rising, gave him her hand.
"Hold that!" she said--"And while you hold it, tell me of my other palace--the one with wings!"
He clasped her small white fingers in his own sun-browned palm and walked beside her bare-headed.
"Ah!" And he drew a deep breath--"That is a miracle! What we called your 'impossible' plan has been made possible! But who would have thought that a woman--"
"Stop there!" she interrupted--"Do not repeat the old gander-cackle of barbaric man, who, while owing his every comfort as well as the continuance of his race, to woman, denied her every intellectual initiative! 'Who would have thought that a woman'--could do anything but bend low before a man with grovelling humility saying 'My lord, here am I, the waiting vessel of your lordship's pleasure!--possess me or I die!' We have changed that beggarly attitude!"
Her eyes flashed,--her voice rang out--the little fingers he held, stiffened resolutely in his clasp. He looked at her with a touch of anxiety.
"Pardon me!--I did not mean--" he stammered.
In a second her mood changed, and she laughed.
"No!--Of course you 'did not mean' anything, Marchese! You are naturally surprised that my 'idea' which was little more than an idea, has resolved itself into a scientific fact--but you would have been just as surprised if the conception had been that of a man instead of a woman. Only you would not have said so!"
She laughed again,--a laugh of real enjoyment,--then went on-"Now tell me--what of my White Eagle?--what movement?--what speed?"
"Amazing!" and the Marchese lowered his voice to almost a whisper--"I hardly dare speak of it!--it is like something supernatural! We have carried out your instructions to the letter--the thing is LIVING, in all respects save life. I made the test with the fluid you gave me--I charged the cells secretly--none of the mechanics saw what I did--and when she rose in air they were terrified--"
"Brave souls!" said Morgana, and now she withdrew her hand from his grasp--"So you went up alone?"
"I did. The steering was easy--she obeyed the helm,--it was as though she were a light yacht in a sea,--wind and tide in her favour. But her speed outran every air-ship I have ever known--as also the height to which she ascends."
"We will take a trip in her to-morrow pour passer le temps"--said Morgana, "You shall choose a place for us to go. Nothing can stop us--nothing on earth or in the air!--and nothing can destroy us. I can guarantee that!"