stars and crossed by the bars of a little balcony.

Captain Runacles stepped out upon this balcony. He had constructed
it two years before, and it ran completely round the roof. Under his
feet he heard the pigeons murmuring in their cote. Below were spread
the dim grass-plots and flower-beds of the two gardens; and, far upon
his right, the misty leagues of the North Sea. Full in front of him,
over Harwich town, hung the dainty constellation of Cassiopeia's
chair, and all around the vast army of heaven moved, silent and
radiant. One seemed to hear its breathing up there, across the deep
calm of the firmament.

He turned to the western horizon, to the spot where the Pleiades had
just set for the summer months, and lifting his glass moved it slowly
up towards Capella and the Kids, thence on to Perseus, and that most
gorgeous tract of the Milky Way which lies thereby. Now, in the
sword-handle of Perseus, as it is called, are set two clusters of
gems, by trying to count which the Captain had, before now, amused
himself for hours together. He was about to make another attempt,
and in fact had reached fifty-six, when he felt a light touch on his
elbow.

He faced quickly round. Behind him, on the balcony, stood his
daughter.

"Don't be angry," she entreated in a whisper. "I heard you come up.
I couldn't sleep until I saw you."

He looked at her sternly. Her feet were bare, and she wore but a
dark cloak over her night-rail. In the years since we last saw her
she had grown from an awkward girl into a lovely woman. Thick waves
of dark hair, disarranged with much tossing on her pillow, fell upon
her shoulders and straggled over the lace upon her bosom. The face
they framed was pale in the starlight, but the lips were red, and the
black eyes feverishly bright.

"Father," she went on, "I have something I must tell you."

Then, as he continued to regard her with displeasure, she broke off,
and put the question that of all her trouble was uppermost.

"What has become of Tristram?"

"He has gone to make the campaign against the French. He was
enlisted to-day. It was--unexpected," her father answered slowly,
with his eyes fixed on hers.

"He went unwillingly," she said, speaking in a quick whisper; "he
was dragged off--trepanned! Simeon told me about it, and besides, I
know--"

"What do you know?"

"I know he never went willingly. Oh, father, listen"--with a swift
and pretty impulse she stepped forward