s eyes, and her hands, from merely lifeless things,
became infused with a gentle warmth; they moved as if they might return
the clasp in which they were held. But she did not speak, she simply
looked at him, and he patiently waited. Suddenly she rose to her feet,
withdrawing her hands from his hold as if he had hurt her.

"Roland," she exclaimed, "you think you know all that is in my heart,
but you do not. You know it is filled with dread, with horror, with a
sickening fear, but it holds more than that. It holds a love for you
which is stronger than any fear or horror or dread. Roland, you must go
down that shaft, you must know the great discovery you have made--even
if you should never be able to come back to earth again, you must die
knowing what it is. That is how I love you!"

Roland quickly made a step forward, but she moved back as if she were
about to seat herself again, but suddenly her knees bent beneath her,
and, before he could touch her, she had fallen over on her side and lay
senseless on the floor.

CHAPTER XXI. THE CAVE OF LIGHT

Margaret was put into the charge of her faithful house-keeper, and
Roland did not see her again until the evening. As she met him she began
immediately to talk upon some unimportant subject, and there was that
in her face which told him that it was her desire that the great
thought which filled both their minds should not be the subject of their
conversation. She told him she was going to the sea-shore for a short
time; she needed a change, and she would go the next day. He understood
her perfectly, and they discussed various matters of business connected
with the Works. She said nothing about the time of her return, and he
did not allude to it.

On the day that Margaret left Sardis, Roland began his preparations for
descending the shaft. He had so thoroughly considered the machinery and
appliances necessary for the undertaking, and had worked out all his
plans in such detail, in his mind and upon paper, that he knew exactly
what he wanted to do. His orders for the great length of chain exhausted
the stock of several manufactories, and the engines he obtained were
even more powerful than he had intended them to be; but these he could
procure immediately, and for smaller ones he would have been obliged to
wait.

The circular car which was intended to move up and down the shaft, and
the peculiar machinery connected with it, with the hoisting apparatus,
were all made