h from it, and made the turfed undulations look slimy and raw. But Lady Constantine settled down in her chair to awai

nor amorous; but partook in an indescribable manner of all three kinds. The door was flung open and the young man was us

ct in him was to her view a piquant attri

at you have sent -?' he began breathlessly,

re,' she smilingly said, holding out her hand, which he rather gi

h all she wished to know concerning astronomical opticians. When he had imparted th

to buy you one,'

as if he w

it. I- could not have accept

ack a hobby, and I shall choose astronomy.

bright

choose. In brief, Swithin St. Cleeve shall be Lady

the worse for being uttered only in the tone

do,' resumed Lady Constantine. 'I w

whenever it should be available, which he promptly did, and then made as if

nev

y you would l

I sho

You can find your way in, and you

et, when he came down from the library steps, and thought it time to go home. But at that moment a servant entered to inquire whether he would or would not prefer to have his lunch broug

consistently eat without hurting his dear patroness Lady Constantine's feelings, when he could readily eat it all, was a problem in which the reasonableness of a larger and larger quan

' came to him over his shou

Lady Constantine,'

to lunch in this a

uld be better,' sa

oom, if you like to come. But

walking over his napkin, and following her a

nized the familiar taste of old friends robbed from her husband's orchards in his childhood, long before Lady C

topic thus reintroduced. 'Yes,' he informed her. 'I seldom read any othe

nd any good

a, leather-bound, and stamped, and gilt, and wide margined, and bearing the blazon of your house in magnificent colours,

hat was what I learn

ay beats conjecture! Francois Arago, as long as forty or fifty years ago, conclusively established the fact that scintillation is the simplest thing in the world - merely a matter of atmosphere. But I won't speak of this to you now. The comparative absence of scintillation in warm countries was noticed by Humboldt. Then, aga

eak so beautifully that

re in the warm soft eyes which met his own with a luxurious contemplative interest.

more; Lady Constantine often throwing in an appreciative remark or question, often meditatively reg

ections on the point, and to superintend the whole. A wooden cabin was to be erected at the foot of the tower, to provide better accommodation for casual visitors to the observatory than the spiral staircase and lead-flat afforded. As this cabin would be completely buri

f opticians concerning the equatorial fo

of all who came in contact with her. One morning, when Tabitha Lark had come as usual to read, Lady Constantine chanced to be in a quarter of the house to which she seldom wandered;

the stars, and it isn't the plannards, that my lady cares for, but for the pretty lad who draws 'em down from the sky to please her; and being a married example, a

ne's face flam

to come back all o

ntine grew

said Tabitha scornfully.

e!' sighed the lady's maid. And no

ss, saying nothing to reveal what she had overheard, immediately after the readin

to mark where the wooden cabin was to stand. She ca

she said. 'I can have noth

aid Swithin

y any longer. And you are

h, aghast. 'Why, the work is begun!

ancies openly; and the project must be arranged in this wise. The whole enterprise is yours: you rent the tower of me: you build the cabin: you get the equatorial. I simply give permission, since you desire it. The path that was to be made from the hill to the park is not to be though

s just the same?' he said, walking after her. He scarcely compre

t? But I dare no

uppose Lady Constantine had anything to do with Swithin St. Cleeve or his star-gazing schemes. She had merely allowe

ite her self-control, a certain north window of the Great House, that commanded an uninterrupted view of the upper ten feet of the column, revealed her to be somewhat frequently gazing from it at a rotundity which had begun to appear on the summit. To those with whom she came in

en landlord and tenant, with a stringent clause against his driving nails into the stonework of such an historical memorial. She replied that she did not wish to be severe on the last representative of such old an

th it to fix it, she replied to that firm to the effect that their letter should have been addressed to Mr. St. Cleeve, the local astronomer, on whose behalf she had made the inqu