Gently I argued, trying to fulfill my promise to Centauri, but I struggled with a superior intellect, and like the brilliant woman she was she listened eagerly, attentively, complimenting me into believing my efforts had convinced her; then, with incomparable tact, she steered from the dangerous subject, and before aware of her intent, I was eloquently discussing the North Pole. Again I lived over that awful voyage, describing the vast dead regions, the insurmountable, smooth, perpendicular cliffs, and terrifying, unfathomable chasms, shadowed in sombre stillness; but when I reached the great, fiery pivot, horror overcame me and vividly I pictured our awful plight as we raced down the swaying mountain with the sea of boiling mass pursuing us and the whole world vibrating like a monstrous pendulum. “And you dared this peril for science?” she asked. “My comrades did,” I answered quickly. “I searched for the greatest drawback to ambition and life lost value in a consuming desire.” Then I told of the wonderful vision that inspired such intense longings, and that I had worshipped her, months before the expedition. “I adore you!” I whispered. “It is fate that brought us together—I will have you!” She laughed softly, studying me through half-closed eyes, then told me from the first I had exerted a strange influence, possibly because of the aureola of mystery surrounding me and the great, unknown continent I came from. “But since our meeting,” she sighed, “new and wonderful thoughts riot in my mind, lulling energy, ambition, and deeply I’ve pondered over the wisdom of a life forfeited for immortality, though it is the grandest finale, and ultimately mine; but I pause, deferring momentous problems absorbed in profound analyses of a powerful, but fleeting emotion.” “Ah!” I sighed ecstatically. “Selfishness, Discontent,” she continued, “the premier rules of this great art are mastered in the realization of my own loveliness and the rebellion against fate, injustice of our sacred laws which sacrifices me for the welfare of humanity.”