"B-but——" stammered Smith, "I think——"
"Oh, please wait! You don't understand what is coming."
"What is coming?" ventured Smith timidly, instinctively closing both ears with his fingers.
"Bang!" said Lady Alene triumphantly. And struck the city of sand with her small, gloved hand.
After a silence, still kneeling there, they turned[106] and looked at each other through the red sunset light.
"The explosion of gas killed them both," said Smith, in an awed voice.
"No."
"What?"
"No. The explosion killed everybody in the city except those two young lovers," she said.
"But why?"