the future.

It was not until some hours later, when I was alone, that this incident
caused me much anxiety, as I remembered that, in spite of the keen
interest Zarlah had evinced, she had carefully avoided any allusion to
the subject afterwards. But in the subsequent events of the evening this
escaped my notice, and, glad to observe the soothing effect my words had
upon her, I did not pursue the thought further.

We had descended by a flight of stone steps to the water's edge, and,
as we stepped upon the narrow strip of pebbly beach, walled in by
cavernous rocks, Zarlah, with great earnestness, exclaimed: "You are
right, dear Harold, we must be hopeful, and not waste the few precious
moments we have together in regrets that are useless. We shall always
love each other, and if we are brave--even unto death--Love will find a
way!"

Poor Zarlah! Little did I imagine the desperate plan that was already
forming in her mind when she uttered these words, that before the close
of another day would indeed have proved her "brave even unto death."

Drawing closer to me and turning her beautiful face up to mine, she
said, after a pause, in which she seemed to read my very soul: "Before
me lies a duty, Harold, which with you at my side I have the strength to
perform, but without you the sacrifice is too great."

"What is it, dearest?" I asked, pressing the little hand I held to my
lips.

"It is to destroy the wicked instrument of which I have told you. I had
not the courage to do this before, as I feared for your safety in
returning to Earth, and to have destroyed it then would have left me in
fearful suspense. But now I must put away, forever, this awful thing
that possesses the power to reveal the thoughts of my fellow beings,
that its mechanism may never become known and thus prove an eternal
curse to the world."

With these words, Zarlah disappeared for a moment in the gloom of a cave
nearby, and, returning with a small metal box, said in a voice which
betrayed great emotion: "Take it, Harold, and hurl it far out into the
waters of the lake, where it will sink forever from sight!"

The earnestness with which Zarlah had spoken of this device, proved how
deeply its existence troubled her conscience, and restrained me from
making any attempt to persuade her from thus severing a connecting
strand between two hearts so widely separated. I therefore took the box
and, with all my strength, hurled it far out into the lake, whe