Father Paul, too, proved himself to be of quite a festive and jovial disposition, for he made himself agreeable to Mrs.Challoner and her daughters, and entertained them with the ease and bonhomie of an accomplished courtier and man of the world.
Dinner was announced in the usual way--that is, with the sound of music played by the electric instrument devoted to that purpose, a performance which elicited much admiration from all the guests.
Heliobas led the way into the dining-room with Mrs.Everard; Colonel Everard followed, with Zara on one arm and the eldest Miss Challoner on the other; Mr.Challoner and myself came next; and Father Paul, with Mrs.Challoner and her other daughter Effie, brought up the rear.

There was a universal murmur of surprise and delight as the dinner-table came in view; and its arrangement was indeed a triumph of art.

In the centre was placed a large round of crystal in imitation of a lake, and on this apparently floated a beautiful gondola steered by the figure of a gondolier, both exquisitely wrought in fine Venetian glass.

The gondolier was piled high with a cargo of roses; but the wonder of it all was, that the whole design was lit up by electricity.

Electric sparkles, like drops of dew, shone on the leaves of the flowers; the gondola was lit from end to end with electric stars, which were reflected with prismatic brilliancy in the crystal below; the gondolier's long pole glittered with what appeared to be drops of water tinged by the moonlight, but which was really an electric wire, and in his cap flashed an electric diamond.