"No," said the girl; "we were--skylarking a little, on our way to the gymnasium; and I gave Brasilia a little shove toward the laboratory door, and then Flavilla pushed me--very gently--and somehow I--the door flew open and my mask fell off and rolled inside; and I went in after it. That is how it happened--partly." She lifted her dark and very beautiful eyes to her stony parent, then they dropped, and she began tracing figures and arabesques on the polished floor with the point of her foil. "That is partly how," she repeated. "What is the other part?" "The other part was that, having unfortunately disobeyed you, and being already in the room, I thought I might as well stay and take a little peep around----" Her father fairly bounced in his padded chair. The velvet-eyed descendant of Eve shot a fearful glance at him and continued, still casually tracing invisible arabesques with her foil's point. "You see, don't you," she said, "that being actually _in_, I thought I might as well do something before I came out again, which would make my disobedience worth the punishment. So I first picked up my mask, then I took a scared peep around. There were only jars and bottles and things.... I was dreadfully disappointed. The certainty of being punished and then, after all, seeing nothing but bottles, _did_ seem rather unfair.... So I--walked around to--to see if I could find something to look at which would repay me for the punishment.... There is a proverb, isn't there Pa-_pah?_--something about being executed for a lamb----" "Go on!" he said sharply. "Well, all I could find that looked as though I had no business to touch it was a little jeweled machine----" "_That_ was it! Did you touch it?" "Yes, several times. Was it a wireless?" "Never mind! Yes, it's one kind of a wireless instrument. Go on!" Sybilla shook her head: "I'm sure I don't see why you are so disturbingly emphatic; because I haven't an idea how to send or receive a wireless message, and I hadn't the vaguest notion how that machine might work. I tried very hard to make it go; I turned several screws and pushed all the push-buttons----" Mr. Carr emitted a hollow, despairing sound--a sort of musical groan--and feebly plucked at space. "I tried every lever, screw, and spring," she went on calmly, "but the machine must have been out of order, for I only got one miserable little spark----" "You got a _spark?_" "Yes--just a tiny, noiseless atom of white fire----" Her father bounced to his feet and waved both hands at her distractedly. "Do you know what you've done?" he bellowed. "N-no----" "Well, you've prepared yourself to fall in love! And you've probably induced some indescribable pup to fall in love with you! And _that's_ what you've done!" "In--_love!_" "Yes, you have!" "But how can a common wireless telephone----"