"Why, what on earth is the matter?" she exclaimed, shrinking back from the glass wall. "There's nothing--we're not anywhere!" "Pardon me, Miss Rennick, you are on board the _Astronef_," said Lord Redgrave, as he reached the top of the companion way, "and the _Astronef_ is at present travelling at about a hundred and fifty miles an hour above the clouds towards Washington. That is why you don't see the clouds and sea as you did after we left the _St. Louis_. At a speed like this they simply make a sort of grey-green blur. We shall be in Washington this evening, I hope." "To-night, sir--I beg your pardon, my Lord!" gasped Mrs. Van Stuyler. "A hundred and fifty miles an hour! Surely that's impossible." "My dear Mrs. Van Stuyler," said Redgrave, with a side-look at Zaidie, "nowadays 'impossible' is hardly an English or even an American word. In fact, since I have had the honour of realising some of Professor Rennick's ideas it has been relegated to the domain of mathematics. Not even he could make two and two more or less than four, but--well, would you like to come into the conning-tower and see for yourselves? I can show you a few experiments that will, at any rate, help to pass the time between here and Washington." "Lord Redgrave," said Mrs. Van Stuyler, dropping gracefully back into her wicker armchair, "if I may say so, I have seen quite enough impossibilities, and--er, well--other things since we left the deck of the _St. Louis_ to keep me quite satisfied until, with your lordship's permission, I set foot on solid ground again, and I should also like to remind you that we have left everything behind us on the _St. Louis_, everything except what we stand up in, and--and----" "And therefore it will be a point of honour with me to see that you want for nothing while you are on board the _Astronef_, and that you shall be released from your durance----" "Now don't say vile, Lenox--I mean----" "It is perfectly plain what you mean, Zaidie," said Mrs. Van Stuyler, in a tone which seemed to send a chill through the deck-chamber. "Really, the American girl----" "Just wants to tell the truth," laughed Zaidie, going towards Redgrave. "Lord Redgrave, if you like it better, says he wants to marry me, and, peer or peasant, I want to marry him, and that's all there is to it. You don't suppose I'd have----" "My dear girl, there's no need to go into details," interrupted Mrs. Van Stuyler, inspired by fond memories of her own youth; "we will take that for granted, and as we are beyond the social region in which chaperons are supposed to be necessary, I think I will have a nap." "And we'll go to the conning-tower, eh?" "Breakfast will be ready in about half an hour," said Redgrave, as he took Zaidie by the arm and led her towards the forward end of the deck-chamber. "Meanwhile, _au revoir_! If you want anything, touch the button at your right hand, just as you would on board the _St. Louis_."