learned that Miss Fregelius had been
cut off from the shore in the church. He added that he ran as hard as he
could to the spot, only to find at dawn that the building had entirely
vanished in the gale, and that the sea had encroached upon the land by
at least two hundred paces.

Of course these statements concerning the aerophone and its capabilities
were reported all over the world and much criticised--very roughly in
some quarters. Thereupon Morris offered to demonstrate the truth of what
he had said. The controversy proved sharp; but of this he was glad;
it was a solace to him, perhaps even it prevented him from plunging
headlong into madness. At first he was stunned; he did not feel
very much. Then the first effects of the blow passed; a sense of the
swiftness and inevitableness of this awful consummation seemed to sink
down into his heart and crush him. The completeness of the tragedy, its
Greek-play qualities, were overwhelming. Question and answer, seed
and fruit--there was no space for thought or growth between them. The
curtain was down upon the Temporal, and lo! almost before its folds had
shaken to their place, it had risen upon the Eternal. His nature
reeled beneath this knowledge and his loss. Had it not been for those
suspicions and attacks it might have fallen.

The details of the struggle need not be entered into, as they have
little to do with the life-story of Morris Monk. It is enough to say
that in the end he more than carried out his promises under the severest
conditions, and in the presence of various scientific bodies and other
experts.

Afterwards came the natural results; the great aerophone company was
floated, in which Morris as vendor received half the shares--he would
take no cash--which shares, by the way, soon stood at five and a
quarter. Also he found himself a noted man; was asked to deliver an
address before the British Association; was nominated on the council
of a leading scientific society, and in due course after a year or
two received one of the greatest compliments that can be paid to an
Englishman, that of being elected to its fellowship, as a distinguished
person, by the committee of a famous Club. Thus did Morris prosper
greatly--very greatly, and in many different ways; but with all this
part of his life we are scarcely concerned.

On the day of his daughter's death Morris visited Mr. Fregelius, for
whom he had a message. He found the old man utterly crushed and broken.