"They do not admit women into the actual monastery"--she went on--"Feminine frivolities are forbidden! But the ruined cloister is open to visitors and I shall ask to see Don Aloysius there." She lightly waved adieu and went, leaving her amiable and contented chaperone to the soothing companionship of a strip of embroidery at which she worked with the leisurely tranquillity which such an occupation engenders. The ruined cloister looked very beautiful that morning, with its crumbling arches crowned and festooned with roses climbing every way at their own sweet will, and Morgana's light figure gave just the touch of human interest to the solemn peacefulness of the scene. She waited but two or three minutes before Don Aloysius appeared--he had seen her arrive from the window of his own private library. He approached her slowly--there was a gravity in the expression of his face that almost amounted to coldness, and no smile lightened it as she met his keen, fixed glance. "So you have come to me at last!" he said--"I have not merited your confidence till now! Why?" His rich voice had a ring of deep reproach in its tone--and she was for a moment taken aback. Then her native self-possession and perfect assurance returned. "Dear Father Aloysius, you do not want my confidence! You know all I can tell you!" she said--and drawing close to him she laid her hand on his arm--"Am I not right?" A tremor shook him--gently he put her hand aside. "You think I know!" he replied--"You imagine--" "Oh, no, I imagine nothing!" and she smiled--"I am sure--yes, SURE!--that you have the secret of things that seem fabulous and yet are true! It was you who first told me of the Brazen City in the Great Desert,--you said it was a mere tradition--but you filled my mind with a desire to find it--" "And you found it?" he interrupted, quickly--"You found it?" "You know I did!" she replied--"Why ask the question? Messages on a Sound-Ray can reach YOU, as well as me!" He moved to the stone bench which occupied a corner of the cloister and sat down. He was very pale and his eyes were feverishly bright. Presently he seemed to recover himself, and spoke more in his usual manner. "Rivardi has been here every day"--he said--"He has talked of nothing but you. He told me that he and Gaspard fell suddenly asleep--for which they were grievously ashamed of themselves--and that you took control of the air-ship and turned it homeward before you had given them any chance to explore the desert--"