Page:The Diothas, or, A far look ahead (IA diothasorfarlook01macn).pdf/175

 the very roar of which could be made audible over the intervening thousands of leagues of land and sea.

Ulmene now, for the first time, mentioned something she had reserved for this occasion. To his surprise, Utis learned that she had been present, on that occasion, in the parlor of Zarene Palutha, when, as they sat in the deepening gloom of evening, the words of his animated description came resounding over the wire which conveyed, at the same time, as fitting accompaniment, the deep diapason of those distant African waters.

"As you moved the instrument nearer the falls," she continued, "your voice became lost in the ever-increasing volume of sound whose thunders filled the apartment. All drew a breath of relief when that sublime and awful sound decreased to its former comparatively subdued. tone, from amid which sounded pleasingly the six-part 'Good-Night Song' sent as final greeting by you and your companions to the listeners in your distant homes.

"When all the rest were gone, your mother and I sat for a long time before the flickering wood-fire,—it was toward the end of October,—and talked about you. Seeing me interested in what she said, your mother next produced the great portfolio of views you had taken for her in every part of the world. Finally, while we were examining the last likeness of yourself, taken some years before, she asked whether I should not like to see you when you next came home. At that time I had not seen you for many years. Though I merely said that I should be glad to see you, she kissed me very tenderly, and said no more, except that it was fully time to go to bed. You returned home soon after: I was really glad to see you, and have been glad ever since."