Nothing was
entirely familiar to her; yet, she assured us, the stars could be
nothing else. Her previous knowledge told her this without
explaining why, and without a hint as to the reason for the
dissimilarity.
"Is it possible," said I, speaking half to myself, "that she has
come from another planet?"
For we know that the sky, as seen from any of the eight planets in
this solar system, would present practically the same appearance;
but if viewed from a planet belonging to any other star-sun, the
constellations would be more or less altered in their arrangement,
because of the vast distance involved. As for the difference in
the appearance of the individual stars, that might be accounted
for by a dissimilarity in the chemical make-up of the atmosphere.
"Ariadne, it may be you've come from another world!"
"No," seemingly quite conscious that she was contradicting me. For
that matter there wasn't anything offensive about her kind of
frankness. "No, Hobart. I feel too much at home to have come from
any other world than this one."
Temporarily I was floored. How could she, so ignorant of other
matters, feel so sure of this? There was no explaining it.
We went back into the house. As it happened, my eye struck first
the gramophone. And it seemed a good idea to test her knowledge
with this.
"Is this apparatus familiar to you?"
"No. What is it for?"
"Do you understand what is meant by the term 'music'?"
"Yes," with instant pleasure.
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