open-mouthed expectation.
Each was swayed by the emotion within them, much as the candle-flame was
swayed by the tempest without. It was the most critical evening of their
lives.

The pale rays of the little lantern fell upon her beautiful face, snugly
and neatly bound in by her black bonnet; but not a beam of the lantern
leaked out into the night to suggest to any watchful eye that human life
at its highest excitement was beating within the dark and isolated tower;
for the dome had no windows, and every shutter that afforded an opening
for the telescope was hermetically closed. Predilections and misgivings
so equally strove within her still youthful breast that she could not
utter a word; her intention wheeled this way and that like the balance of
a watch. His unexpected proposition had brought about the smartest
encounter of inclination with prudence, of impulse with reserve, that she
had ever known.

Of all the reasons that she had expected him to give for his urgent
request to see her this evening, an offer of marriage was probably the
last. Whether or not she had ever amused herself with hypothetical
fancies on such a subject,--and it was only natural that she should
vaguely have done so,--the courage in her protege coolly to advance it,
without a hint from herself that such a proposal would be tolerated,
showed her that there was more in his character than she had reckoned on:
and the discovery almost frightened her. The humour, attitude, and tenor
of her attachment had been of quite an unpremeditated quality,
unsuggestive of any such audacious solution to their distresses as this.

'I repeat my question, dearest,' he said, after her long pause. 'Shall
it be done? Or shall I exile myself, and study as best I can, in some
distant country, out of sight and sound?'

'Are those the only alternatives? Yes, yes; I suppose they are!' She
waited yet another moment, bent over his kneeling figure, and kissed his
forehead. 'Yes; it shall be done,' she whispered. 'I will marry you.'

'My angel, I am content!'

He drew her yielding form to his heart, and her head sank upon his
shoulder, as he pressed his two lips continuously upon hers. To such had
the study of celestial physics brought them in the space of eight months,
one week, and a few odd days.

'I am weaker than you,--far the weaker,' she went on, her tears falling.
'Rather than lose you out of my sight I will marry without stipulation or
condition.