When we had
entered the compartment we had seated ourselves upon a low bench
beneath the porthole. The bench was the only furniture of the
room. It was of sorapus wood. The floor, ceiling and walls were
of carborundum aluminum, a light, impenetrable composition extensively
utilized in the construction of Martian fighting ships.
As I had sat meditating upon the future my eyes had been riveted upon
the port-hole which was just level with them as I sat. Suddenly I
looked toward Phaidor. She was regarding me with a strange expression
I had not before seen upon her face. She was very beautiful then.
Instantly her white lids veiled her eyes, and I thought I discovered
a delicate flush tingeing her cheek. Evidently she was embarrassed
at having been detected in the act of staring at a lesser creature,
I thought.
"Do you find the study of the lower orders interesting?" I asked,
laughing.
She looked up again with a nervous but relieved little laugh.
"Oh very," she said, "especially when they have such excellent
profiles."
It was my turn to flush, but I did not. I felt that she was poking
fun at me, and I admired a brave heart that could look for humour
on the road to death, and so I laughed with her.
"Do you know where we are going?" she said.
"To solve the mystery of the eternal hereafter, I imagine," I
replied.
"I am going to a worse fate than that," she said, with a little
shudder.
Pages:
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121