The Time Traveller has created a model of a time machine and invites his guests to examine it; in front of everyone, a lever is pressed and the machine vanishes. He explains that it has travelled into the future or the past and that he intends to travel in a larger machine soon. The guests are sceptical, but the Time Traveller leads them to his laboratory where indeed, there is a larger version of the machine. He expresses his serious intent to explore time and the guests are unsure how to take him.