Page:Robert William Cole - The Struggle for Empire; A Story of the Year 2236 (1900).djvu/38

26 in which Flora was standing and kissed his hand to her. She smiled and nodded to him, and held the flowers up for him to see. He bowed his thanks to her, and then she turned a handle and the picture vanished.

Flora then threw herself into an armchair with a book and a fan, and patiently occupied the next two hours by reading a sensational story about twenty-third century loves. She was just in the full swing of the romance when Lieutenant Alec Brandon was announced.

'At last, my sweet one,' he said as he entered the room, 'I am released from the toils of my office, and have the pleasure of seeing your sweet face once more. Are you tired of doing nothing, or would you rather that I waited just a little longer?'

'I was tired of being without you, Alec,' she replied, as he bent down and kissed her upturned face. 'I thought you were never coming.'

'Well, here I am at last, and so you