"I saw the air-ship flying over the monastery,"--he explained, greeting her--"And I was anxious to know whether la Signora had gone away into the skies or was still on earth! She has gone, I suppose?"
"Yes, she has gone!" sighed Lady Kingswood--"and the Marchese with her, and one assistant. Her 'nerve' is simply astonishing!"
"You did not think of venturing on a trip with her yourself?"--and the priest smiled kindly, as he assisted her to ascend the last flight of steps to the loggia.
"No indeed! I really could not! I feel I ought to be braver--but I cannot summon up sufficient courage to leave terra firma. It seems altogether unnatural."
"Then what will you do when you are an angel, dear lady?" queried Aloysius, playfully--"You will have to leave terra firma then! Have you ever thought of that?"
She smiled.
"I'm afraid I don't think!" she said--"I take my life on trust. I always believe that God who brought me HERE will take care of me THERE!--wherever 'there' is. You understand me, don't you? You speak English so well that I'm sure you do."
"Yes--I understand you perfectly"--he replied--"That I speak English is quite natural, for I was educated at Stonyhurst, in England. I was then for a time at Fort Augustus in Scotland, and studied a great many of the strange traditions of the Highland Celts, to which mystic people Miss Royal by birth belongs. Her ancestry has a good deal to do with her courage and character."
While he spoke Lady Kingswood gazed anxiously into the sky, searching it north, south, east, west, for the first glimpse of the returning "White Eagle," but there was no sign of it.
"You must not worry yourself,"--went on the priest, putting a chair for her in the loggia, and taking one himself--"If we sit here we shall see the air-ship returning, I fancy, by the western line,--certainly near the sunset. In any case let me assure you there is no danger!" "No danger?"
"Absolutely none!"
Lady Kingswood looked at him in bewildered amazement.
"Surely there MUST be danger?" she said--"The terrible accidents that happen every day to these flying machines--"
"Yes--but you speak of ordinary flying machines," said Aloysius,--"This 'White Eagle' is not an ordinary thing. It is the only one of its kind in the world--the only one scientifically devised to work with the laws of Nature. You saw it ascend?"