areer, he and Bella
became engaged. Nicholas returned to St. Petersburg to obtain his
parents' consent to the union, and to make arrangements. He was rich,
and could afford to marry. At the time I write of, he was coming back,
not to claim his bride, for his father thought him still too young, but
to see her, and to pay us a visit.

"Now you know, mother," said I, "after the young people have seen each
other for half-an-hour or so, they will naturally want to take a walk or
a ride, and--"

"Only half-an-hour?" interrupted my mother, with one of her peculiar
little smiles.

"Well, an hour if you like, or two if they prefer it," I returned; "at
all events, they will want a walk before luncheon, and I shall take the
opportunity to show them some experiments, which prove the power of the
singular compound about which you questioned me just now."

"The explosive?"

"Yes. Its name is dynamite."

"And what may that be, Jeff? Something very awful, I daresay," remarked
my mother, with a look of interest, as she sipped her tea.

"Very awful, indeed," said I; "at least its effects are sometimes
tremendous."

"What! worse than gunpowder?"

"Ay, much worse, though I should prefer to say _better_ than gunpowder."

"Dear me!" rejoined my mother, lifting her eyebrows a little, in
surprise.

"Yes, much better," I continued; "gunpowder only bursts things--"

"Pretty well that, Jeff, in the way of violence, isn't it?"

"Yes, but nothing to dynamite, for while powder only bursts things,
dynamite shatters them."

"How very dreadful! What _is_ dynamite?"

"That is just what I am about to explain," said I. "You must know,
then, that it is a compound."

"Dear, dear," sighed my mother; "how many compounds you have told me
about, Jeff, since you took to chemistry! Are there no uncompounded
things--no simple things in the world?"

"Why, yes, mother; _you_ are a simple thing, and I only wish there were
a good many more simple things like you in the world--"

"Don't be foolish, Jeff, but answer my question."

"Well, mother, there are indeed some simple elements in creation, but
dynamite is not one of them. It is composed of an excessively explosive
oil named nitro-glycerine (itself a compound), and an earth called
kieselguhr. The earth is not explosive, and is only mixed with the
nitro-glycerine to render that liquid less dangerous; but the compound
is named dynamite, in which form it is made up and sold in immens