“What mean you?” asked Ernest.
“I was just thinking what an astounding victory you could gain, if you had control of that one force, from which all the forces of nature, I think, are derived.”
This idea of Mildred’s was fully elaborated by Lord Lytton, some few years afterwards, and the force was called vrill. But as we are not writing a treatise on science, we will proceed with our story.
“O,” she continued gaily, “do you not wish you had something of that sort?”
“I have had such foolish thoughts a thousand times,” replied Ernest, breaking into a laugh, “but I did not know that anybody else had such absurd fancies. I found myself wishing for miraculous powers on the battle field of Bull Run a short time since. When our soldiers were about to retreat in a wild panic in the evening, I almost cried aloud for a cyclone to hurl upon those dark columns. How quickly I thought I would annihilate them. Was it not preposterous?”
And they both laughed.
“I should be ashamed,” said Mildred, “to let any one know what wild fancies pass through this dwarfish brain of mine. The truth is, I live in an ideal world. I often find myself wishing that I could visit some ‘New Utopia.’”
“What a coincidence,” said Ernest, looking at the young lady in surprise.