the world from which I professed to have come, and
of the manner in which my voyage had been accomplished.
After consulting Eveena and Davilo, I accepted the
invitation, and intended to take the former with me.
She objected, however, that while she had heard much
in her father’s house and during our travels
of what I had to tell, her companions, scarcely less
interested, were comparatively ignorant. Indiscreetly,
because somewhat provoked by these repeated sacrifices,
as much of my inclination as her own, I mentioned
my purpose at our evening meal, and bade her name those
who should accompany me. I was a little surprised
when, carefully evading the dictation to which she
was invited, she suggested that Eunane and Eive would
probably most enjoy the opportunity. That she
should be willing to get rid of the most wilful and
petulant of the party seemed natural. The other
selection confirmed the impression I had formed, but
dared not express to one whom I had never blamed without
finding myself in the wrong, that Eveena regarded
Eive with a feeling more nearly approaching to jealousy
than her nature seemed capable of entertaining.
I obeyed, however, without comment; and both the companions
selected for me were delighted at the prospect.
The Academy is situated about half-way between Amacasfe
and the Residence; the facilities of Martial travelling,
and above all of telegraphic and telephonic communication,
dispensing with all reason for placing great institutions
in or near important cities. We traveller by
balloon, as I was anxious to improve myself in the
management of these machines. After frightening
my companions so far as to provoke some, outcry from
Eive, and from Eunane some saucy remarks on my clumsiness,
on which no one else would have ventured, I descended
safely, if not very creditably, in front of the building
which serves as a local centre of Martial philosophy.
The residences of some sixty of the most eminent professors
of various sciences—elected by their colleagues
as seats fall vacant, with the approval of the highest
Court of Judicature and of the campta—cluster
around a huge building in the form of a hexagon made
up of a multitude of smaller hexagons, in the centre
whereof is the great hall of the same shape.
In the smaller chambers which surround it are telephones
through which addresses delivered in a hundred different
quarters are mechanically repeated; so that the residents
or temporary visitors can here gather at once all
the knowledge that is communicated by any man of note
to any audience throughout the planet. On this
account numbers of young men just emancipated from
the colleges come here to complete their education;
and above each of the auditory chambers is another
divided into six small rooms, wherein these visitors
are accommodated. A small house belonging to
one of the members who happened to be absent was appropriated
to me during my stay, and in its hall the philosophers
gathered in the morning to converse with or to question
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