"Not at all," she remarked, smiling.
"I am convinced that my secret will not
go any further."

"You have a high opinion of my discretion,"
I rejoined, endeavouring to look
flattered.

"I have no opinion whatever on the
subject," she calmly remarked. "For all
I know to the contrary, you may be the
veriest chatterbox in the universe. But of
this I am sure, that dead men tell no tales,
and I have selected you for the next
victim. Now, don't be alarmed. If you
do not like it, you shall not suffer any
pain." (While talking thus she advanced
towards a shelf.) "It would, indeed, be
more regular to strangle you with a white
scarf, or to slay you with one of these
knives; but as you are a victim of a superior
order, I can afford to dispense with
extreme formalities, and allow you to
swallow the contents of the little vial I
now place in your hands."

"Poison?" I inquired, with horror.

"Yes," she answered, "and of so efficacious
a kind that it will extinguish life in a
moment, without the slightest pain or
inconvenience. When you have expired,
your body will be conveyed through this
aperture, through which many—ah, how
many!—have passed before."

With this she touched a spring, whereupon
the idol sunk behind the stone, and
exhibited a hideous face, painted on the
wall, with a wide mouth opening on
darkness.

Horror gave place to indignation.

"This is all very well, madam," said I;
"but if you are a lunatic, I am not bound
on that account to swallow poison, and to be
put out of sight like a posted letter."

"Resistance is useless," she said, drawing
forth a revolver and pointing it full in
my face. "This might hurt you, whereas
the vial causes no suffering whatever. You
had better choose the latter."

I had never realised till that moment
the feelings of Fair Rosamond.

"And when," she proceeded, "the
goddess grows impatient, the jaws of her
provider are more extended."

This was the fact, and I was inspired
with a sudden resolution. One road of
escape was obvious, and, in a fit of
desperation, I leaped into the open mouth, head-
foremost, like a harlequin.

Again a few moments of darkness, during
which I heard a shriek of female rage, and
when this had passed, I found myself in a
neat little study, looking at a slim gentleman
trimly dressed, and especially
remarkable for the perfect arrangement of
his hair. He seemed to be rather startled.

"Well, James," he said, "you need not
have taken me unawares like this. I did
not so much as hear you knock."

My name is not James; but rejoiced as
I was to find myself in a room where the
image of Bowanee was not part of the
furniture, I did not deem it expedient to
correct the error. Indeed I was beginning to
stammer out an apology, when he
fortunately prevented me by saying, quickly:

"No matter—no matter. I am only too
happy to show you the successful result of
my little experiments."

I expressed, in turn, my happiness at the
proposed instruction; he proceeded thus:

"The greatest discoveries in practical
science often, as you are aware, have a
comparatively childish beginning. The
steam-engine itself was, in its earliest form,
a toy; and it was by means of a boy's kite
that Franklin drew the electric spark from
the clouds. I have devoted myself to
bubbles. You smile," I had done nothing of
the sort, "I do not refer to those hollow
commercial enterprises which are
stigmatised by that name, but to bonâ fide
bubbles such as urchins are in the habit of
blowing from an ordinary tobacco-pipe.
Just watch me now."

So saying, he dipped the bowl of an
ordinary pipe into a small basin of fluid,
and, with evident exertion, blew a fair
round bubble, which, when detached, rested
upon the table.

"Just touch that," he said.

I did so: the bubble did not burst, but
was as firm as if it had been made of glass.

"Now you see the nature of my invention,"
he continued, smiling with evident
satisfaction. "I add to the saponaceous
fluid, vulgarly termed soap-and-water, an
ingredient the nature of which I shall not
reveal, and which has the effect of
rendering the bubble permanent. You may
dash that bubble against the ground, or
strike it with a hammer—still it will not
break. All you have to avoid is a contact
with fire. Observe!"

He lighted a lucifer-match, and applied
it to the bubble, which, with a report like
that of a small cannon, exploded so
instantly, that he was thrown to the ground
as if stricken by a thunderbolt. However,
he rose smiling, and, rubbing the part that
had been most inconvenienced by the fall,
quietly said:

"There is no occasion to repeat the
experiment?"