d which led to the banks of the river Forth.

The first physical impression on the girl was the purity of the air
inhaled eagerly by her lungs.

"Breathe it freely, Nell," said James Starr; "it is fragrant with all
the scents of the open country."

"What is all that smoke passing over our heads?" inquired Nell.

"Those are clouds," answered Harry, "blown along by the westerly wind."

"Ah!" said Nell, "how I should like to feel myself carried along in that
silent whirl! And what are those shining sparks which glance here and
there between rents in the clouds?"

"Those are the stars I have told you about, Nell. So many suns they are,
so many centers of worlds like our own, most likely."

The constellations became more clearly visible as the wind cleared the
clouds from the deep blue of the firmament. Nell gazed upon the myriad
stars which sparkled overhead. "But how is it," she said at length,
"that if these are suns, my eyes can endure their brightness?"

"My child," replied James Starr, "they are indeed suns, but suns at an
enormous distance. The nearest of these millions of stars, whose rays
can reach us, is Vega, that star in Lyra which you observe near the
zenith, and that is fifty thousand millions of leagues distant. Its
brightness, therefore, cannot affect your vision. But our own sun, which
will rise to-morrow, is only distant thirty-eight millions of leagues,
and no human eye can gaze fixedly upon that, for it is brighter than the
blaze of any furnace. But come, Nell, come!"

They pursued their way, James Starr leading the maiden, Harry walking
by her side, while Jack Ryan roamed about like a young dog, impatient of
the slow pace of his masters. The road was lonely. Nell kept looking at
the great trees, whose branches, waving in the wind, made them seem to
her like giants gesticulating wildly. The sound of the breeze in the
tree-tops, the deep silence during a lull, the distant line of the
horizon, which could be discerned when the road passed over open
levels--all these things filled her with new sensations, and left
lasting impressions on her mind.

After some time she ceased to ask questions, and her companions
respected her silence, not wishing to influence by any words of theirs
the girl's highly sensitive imagination, but preferring to allow ideas
to arise spontaneously in her soul.

At about half past eleven o'clock, they gained the banks of the river
Forth. There a boat, chartered by James St