"Come, come, Graham, my boy," said Temple on the following day, as the two sat together after our morning meal; "what is the matter with you? Why so melancholy? Surely, Volinè's is not the first pretty face you have seen?" "Mr. Temple," answered Graham, "your last stray shot has hit the mark. No woman on Earth, you know as well as I, is so incomparably beautiful as she. Volinè is a goddess; the soul of Beauty! Would any fellow, especially situated as I am, fancy free, in the pride of early manhood, escape from such seductive attractions unscathed? From the moment that my eyes first fell upon her, I became conscious that I had found my ideal of female beauty at last--found it, alas! under circumstances which admit of no hope, however remote, to become ultimately its proud possessor. I have tried to conceal my feeling from you all; but Love ever betrays itself. She has filled my thoughts by day, and my dreams by night. Yes, I love her! and it is at least consoling to be able to confess my secret to such an old and tried friend as you. It relieves my feelings in some measure to tell them to another who can show some sympathy." "Why, Graham, you must be hard hit indeed! But your chance is not by any means a hopeless one. From what we can see, Volinè is certainly interested in us, and in you particularly so." "But look at the differences of our race and station--ah! and my position, too, a prisoner, whose very life is threatened," Graham sighed. "All the more need for you to put matters in their best light. Go in and win, man. By doing so, you may gain your heart's desire, and save us from death. Volinè is all-powerful. Her word is second to the King's, and she is his only daughter. She looks upon you with decided favour already; and when once you get that far with a woman, the rest is easy--it is certainly so with the ladies of Earth; and if we believe in Doctor Hermann's theory of Universality, the maidens of Mars must be made of much the same material," answered Temple, laughing. "What you say, Mr. Temple, certainly puts matters in a different light. That flickering phantom men call Hope, once more appears before me and bids me follow; but whither she may lead me is very doubtful." "I say, Temple and Graham, you two appear to have a very serious topic for your conversation this morning," said the Doctor, rising from his seat at the other end of the room, where he had been busy writing memoranda in his pocket-book. The Doctor was here interrupted by a visit from Kaosp, who spent the remainder of the morning with us, helping us to acquire the Martial language.