creamy white picked out
with gold. Two of the panels were occupied by massive, handsomely
mounted doors of frosted aethereum, the panels of which were decorated
with fanciful scroll-work of the polished metal, imparting a very rich
and handsome effect. These doors, the professor reminded Lady Olivia,
gave admission to the dining and drawing-rooms.

Behind the grand staircase was another bulkhead, similar to the one
already described, but having one door only--and that in its centre--
instead of two, as in the case of the other bulkhead. This single door
gave access to a long corridor, on either side of which were to be found
the staterooms, or sleeping apartments, the bathrooms, and the domestic
offices generally of the ship. Lady Elphinstone was tolerably familiar
with this part of the ship already; and as she wished to peep into the
room which she and her husband were to occupy, she now took the lead
and, opening the door leading into the corridor, passed through it,
while the men turned in the other direction and entered the dining-room.

Passing along the corridor, Lady Elphinstone presently reached the
stateroom which she was desirous to inspect, and, turning the handle of
the door, entered. The room in which she now found herself was an
apartment about twenty feet square, lighted at one end by two very large
circular ports, or scuttles, let into the side of the ship, affording
ample illumination during the daytime, while the hours of darkness were
provided for by half a dozen electric lights disposed about the cabin,
mounted on handsome aethereum brackets, and furnished with opal shades,
shaped and tinted to represent flowers. The bulkheads were of frosted
aethereum, divided up into panels by fluted Corinthian pilasters of the
same metal, supporting a massive cornice and a coved ceiling, the wall
panels being enriched with graceful designs in polished aethereum
surrounding choice paintings in water-colour, while the ceiling was
painted to represent a cloud-dappled sky, with cupids flitting hither
and thither among the clouds. Handsome wardrobes, chests of drawers,
wash-stands, toilet tables, couches, and chairs of most exquisite
workmanship in frosted aethereum, upholstered in richest silk and
velvet, were conveniently grouped about the apartment; and in the
centre, automatically balanced on gimbals, hung a spacious and
beautifully carved and chiselled bedstead of aethereum, upon which the
occupant would f