kep'
'im out o' the Nag's Head I'd ha' burned some on 'em, that I would, and
I often told 'im so. He knowed a wonderful lot about the stars, my
'usband did. Why, he'd often sit in his chair outside that door, smokin'
his pipe and watchin' 'em for hours together.

"One day there was a great man came down to give a lecture on the stars
in C----, and a gentleman as knowed my 'usband's tastes paid his fare
and gave 'im a ticket for the lecture. When he came 'ome he was that
excited I thought he'd go out o' his mind. He seemed as though he could
think of nothing else for weeks, and it wasn't till he began to ha' bad
luck wi' the ewes as he was able to shake it off. He was allus lookin'
in the paper to see if the gentleman as give the lecture was comin'
again. His name was Sir Robert Ball. I dare say you've heard on 'im.

"He used to spend all his Sundays readin' about stars. No, sir, he
'adn't been inside the church for years. 'Church is for folks as knows
nowt about the stars,' he used to say. 'Sir Robert Ball's my parson.'
One night when he was sittin' outside the door. I sez, 'Why don't you
come in and get yer supper? It's getting cold.' 'Let it get cold,' he
sez; 'I'm not comin' in till the moon's riz. It's as good as a drop o'
drink to see it.'

"P'raps he told yer all about that time when he was took up wi'
spiritualism. He'd met a man in the public-'ouse who'd 'eard his talk
and put 'im up to it. They got 'im to go to a meetin' i' the next
village, and made 'im believe as he was a medium. Well, there never was
such goin's-on as we 'ad wi' 'im for months. He'd sit up 'alf the night,
bumpin' the table and tan-rannin' wi' an old bucket till I was a'most
scared out o' my life. But that winter he was nearly carried off wi' the
New Mony, and when he got better he said he wasn't goin' to touch the
spirits no more. 'There's summat in it,' he sez; 'but there's more in
the stars.' And from that day I never 'eard 'im so much as talk about
spirits, and you may be sure I didn't remind 'im on 'em.

"You must ha' often 'eard 'im talk about the stars, sir. Well, I suppose
them things makes no difference to a' eddicated gentleman like you. But
poor folks, _I_ sez, has no business to meddle wi' em. All about worlds
and worlds floatin' on nothin' till you got fair lost. Folks as find
them things out ought to keep 'em quiet, that's wot _I_ sez. Why, I've
'eard 'im talk till I was that mazed that I couldn't 'a said my prayers;
no, not