bly not yet arrived, but Clewe could not afford to disturb his
mind with anticipations of disagreeable things which might happen.

The masses of lenses, batteries, tubes, and coils which constituted the
new instrument had been set up in the lens-house, and it was with this
invention that Clewe had succeeded in producing that new form of light
which would not only penetrate any material substance, but illuminate
and render transparent everything through which it passed, and which
would, it was hoped, extend itself into the earth to a depth only
limited by the electric power used to generate it.

Margaret was very anxious to be present at the first experiment, but
Clewe was not willing that this should be.

"It is almost certain," he said, "that there will be failures at first,
not caused perhaps by any radical defects in the apparatus, but by some
minor fault in some part of it. This almost always happens in a new
machine, and then there are uninteresting work and depressing waiting.
As soon as I see that my invention will act as I want it to act, I shall
have you in the lens-house with me. We may not be able to do very much
at first, but when I really begin to do anything I want both of us to
see it done."

There was no flooring in that part of the lens-house where the machine
was set up, for Clewe wished his new light to operate directly upon
the earth. At about eight feet above the ground was the opening through
which the Artesian ray would pass perpendicularly downward whenever the
lever should be moved which would connect the main electric current.

When all was ready, Clewe sent every one, even Bryce, the
master-workman, from the room. If his invention should totally fail,
he wanted no one but himself to witness that failure; but if it should
succeed, or even give promise of doing so, he would be glad to have the
eyes of his trusted associates witness that success. When the doors were
shut and locked, Clewe moved a lever, and a disk of light three feet in
diameter immediately appeared upon the ground. It was a colorless light,
but it seemed to give a more vivid hue to everything it shone upon--such
as the little stones, a piece of wood half embedded in the earth, grains
of sand, and pieces of mortar. In a few seconds, however, these things
all disappeared, and there revealed itself to the eyes of Clewe a
perfectly smooth surface of brown earth. This continued for some little
time, now and then a rounded or a fl