`Well, now, suppose we left things just as they are, for a long time. The force of the whalebone would get exhausted, you know, and it would stay bent, even when you unhooked it. Now, why shouldn't the same thing happen with the weight? The whalebone gets so used to being bent, that it ca'n't straighten itself any more. Why shouldn't the weight get so used to being held up, that it ca'n't fall any more? That's what I want to know!'

`That's what we want to know!' echoed the crowd.

`How long must we wait?' grumbled the Emperor.

The Professor looked at his watch. `Well, I think a thousand years will do to begin with,' he said. `Then we will cautiously unhook the weight: and, if it still shows (as perhaps it will) a slight tendency to fall, we will hook it for another thousand years.'

Here the Empress experienced one of those flashes of Common Sense which were the surprise of all around her. `Meanwhile there'll be time for another Experiment,' she said.

`There will indeed!' cried the delighted Professor. `Let us return to the platform, and proceed to the Fourth Experiment!'

`For this concluding Experiment, I will take a certain Alkali, or Acid--I forget which. Now you'll see what will happen when I mix it with Some--' here he took up a bottle, and looked at it doubtfully, `--when I mix it with--with Something--'

Here the Emperor interrupted. `What's the name of the stuff?' he asked.

`I don't remember the name,' said the Professor: `and the label has come off.' He emptied it quickly into the other bottle, and, with a tremendous bang, both bottles flew to pieces, upsetting all the machines, and filling the Pavilion with thick black smoke. I sprang to my feet in terror, and--and found myself standing before my solitary hearth, where the poker, dropping at last from the hand of the sleeper, had knocked over the tongs and the shovel, and had upset the kettle, filling the air with clouds of steam. With a weary sigh, I betook myself to bed.


  By PanEris using Melati.

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