looked about them.

"I see him not," said Madame.

"Where is he?" asked Juliette, in a pleasant girlish voice. "Still at
the gate? And say then, my father," this in low tones meant not to be
overheard, "who is this monsieur?"

"He is the little boy," exclaimed the Pasteur, chuckling at his joke,
"but you see he has grown in the train."

"_Mon Dieu!_" exclaimed Madame, "I wonder if his bed will be long
enough?"

"It is very amusing," remarked Juliette.

Then they both descended from the verandah, to greet him with foreign
cordiality which, as they spoke rapidly in French, was somewhat lost on
Godfrey. Recognizing their kind intentions, however, he took off his
hat and bowed to each in turn, remarking as he did so:

"_Bonjour, oui. Oui, bonjour_," the only words in the Gallic tongue
that occurred to him at the moment.

"I speek Engleesh," said Juliette, with solemn grandeur.

"I'm jolly glad to hear it," replied Godfrey, "and I _parle Francais_,
or soon shall, I hope."

Such was Godfrey's introduction to his new home at Kleindorf, where
very soon he was happy enough. Notwithstanding his strange appearance
and his awkwardness, Monsieur Boiset proved himself to be what is
called "a dear old gentleman"; moreover, really learned, and this in
sundry different directions. Thus, he was an excellent astronomer, and
the possessor of a first-rate telescope, mounted in a little
observatory, on a rocky peak of ground which rose up a hundred feet or
more in the immediate neighbourhood of the house, that itself stood
high. This instrument, which its owner had acquired secondhand at some
sale, of course was not of the largest size. Still, it was powerful
enough for all ordinary observations, and to show many hundreds of the
heavenly bodies that are invisible to the naked eye, even in the clear
air of Switzerland.

To Godfrey, who had, it will be remembered, a strong liking for
astronomy, it was a source of constant delight. What is more, it
provided a link of common interest that soon ripened into friendship
between himself and his odd old tutor, who had been obliged hitherto to
pursue his astral researches in solitude, since to Madame and to
Juliette these did not appeal. Night by night, especially after the
winter snows began to fall, they would sit by the stove in the little
observatory, gazing at the stars, making calculations, in which,
notwithstanding his dislike of mathematics, Godfrey soon became expert,
and setti