s no less than his lips to her ears, as he said,
'How such a theory can have lingered on to this day 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, again, the scintillations vary. No star
flaps his wings like Sirius when he lies low! He flashes out emeralds
and rubies, amethystine flames and sapphirine colours, in a manner quite
marvellous to behold, and this is only _one_ star! So, too, do Arcturus,
and Capella, and lesser luminaries. . . . But I tire you with this
subject?'

'On the contrary, you speak so beautifully that I could listen all day.'

The astronomer threw a searching glance upon her for a moment; but there
was no satire in the warm soft eyes which met his own with a luxurious
contemplative interest. 'Say some more of it to me,' she continued, in a
voice not far removed from coaxing.

After some hesitation the subject returned again to his lips, and he said
some more--indeed, much more; Lady Constantine often throwing in an
appreciative remark or question, often meditatively regarding him, in
pursuance of ideas not exactly based on his words, and letting him go on
as he would.

Before he left the house the new astronomical project was set in train.
The top of the column was to be roofed in, to form a proper observatory;
and on the ground that he knew better than any one else how this was to
be carried out, she requested him to give precise directions 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 buried in the dense fir
foliage which enveloped the lower part of the column and its pedestal, it
would be no disfigurement to the general appearance. Finally, a path was
to be made across the surrounding fallow, by which she might easily
approach the scene of her new study.

When he was gone she wrote to the firm of opticians concerning the
equatorial for whose reception all this was designed.

The undertaking was soon in full progress; and by degrees it became the
talk of the hamlets round that Lady Constantine had given