"I have taken advantage of your Excellency's authority to obtain from the museums diamonds and other gems that were highly esteemed in her time. Upon the floor of this cylinder I have placed a heap of these, which will be carried backward with the force screen and appear upon her lawn as the trap is set. Unless women were far different then than now, she will come to this glittering bait, penetrating the force screen that will be invisible and harmless while at rest, and then we shall pull the screen and the woman back together, so that she shall await the Master's pleasure within this glowing cell." The Master licked his lips as he watched through the screen the lovely, oblivious face of the girl from bygone ages. Yet there remained a doubt. "Heidkamp", he said abruptly, "you have planned well and built skillfully, but I fear that all is not well, and that we perhaps tamper with forces that may rise up and destroy me. If you have any faint doubt of the safety of all this strange machinery, that Director Melsit himself cannot entirely vouch for, speak now, and you may have more time to make sure. But if you are sure, and carry me forward to success, you shall share my power and be heir to all of it. Think well, for this is a price that malice or disloyalty cannot offer." [Illustration: _The master licked his lips as he watched through the screen the lovely face of the girl from ages past. Yet there remained a doubt._] "Your Excellency, I am your loyal and careful servant, the potential is at its peak, the bait is within the trap, and I await your word to close the switch that begins your conquest of time itself. Shall I proceed?" "Close the switch." The whine of the generators died to a whisper, the orange and the silver light sank slowly into the plastics of the cage, as if receding into a measureless depth of water to vanish at last, leaving the surface blank and sombre. On the screen appeared clearly the image of the beautiful girl from the America of 1940. She was dressed in blue; she rested her chin on her hand as she waited for her lover to appear, and she seemed to be lost in some vague dream. For a minute she did not look up as, through the magic of Heidkamp's science, there materialized on the lawn the glittering jewels which were to bait the trap. Then she saw them. Her eyes widened. With a smile which bespoke childlike pleasure rather than greed she jumped up and ran toward the treasure. She came to the edge of the fateful circle, hesitated as if some mystic warning made her pause, and finally stepped within.