Suddenly, far out in the harbour, a broad white beam of light shot out; it was the search-light of a warship. For a moment it swept along the military mole and rested on the battery at the mouth of the channel. The fleet was leaving the port, and picking its way through the difficult passage. Savrola had been informed of the approaching departure of the admiral, and realised at once the meaning of what he saw. "That," he said, "may precipitate matters." "You mean that when the ships are gone you will no longer fear to rise?" "I do not fear; but it is better to await a good moment." "And that moment?" "Is perhaps imminent. I should like you to leave the capital. It will be no place for women in a few days. Your husband knows it; why has he not sent you away to the country?" "Because," she replied, "we shall suppress this revolt, and punish those who have caused it." "Have no illusions," said Savrola. "I do not miscalculate. The army cannot be trusted; the fleet is gone; the people are determined. It will not be safe for you to stay here." "I will not be driven out," she answered with energy; "nothing shall make me fly. I will perish with my husband." "Oh, we shall try to be much more prosaic than that," he said. "We shall offer a very handsome pension to the President, and he will retire with his beautiful wife to some gay and peaceful city, where he can enjoy life without depriving others of liberty." "You think you can do all this?" she cried. "Your power can rouse the multitude; but can you restrain them?" And she told him of the words she had heard in the crowd that night. "Are you not playing with mighty forces?" "Yes, I am," he said; "and that is why I have asked you to go away to the country for a few days, until things become settled one way or the other. It is possible that either I or your husband will go down. I shall of course try to save him, if we are successful; but, as you say, there are other forces which may be beyond control; and if he gets the upper hand----" "Well?" "I suppose I should be shot." "Fearful!" she said. "Why will you persist?" "Oh, it is only now, when the play is growing high, that I begin to appreciate the game. Besides, death is not very terrible." "Afterwards may be." "I do not think so. Life, to continue, must show a balance of happiness. Of one thing I feel sure; we may say of a future state,--'If any, then better.'" "You apply your knowledge of this world to all others." "Why not?" he said. "Why should not the same laws hold good all over the universe, and, if possible, beyond it? Other suns show by their spectra that they contain the same elements as ours." "You put your faith in the stars," she said doubtingly, "and think, though you will not admit it, they can tell you everything." "I never accused them of being interested in our concerns; but if they were, they might tell strange tales. Supposing they could read our hearts for instance?"