morous was the presence of the man that for some time
his influence survived his actual departure and precluded other
thoughts. In a reactionary glow of hope and confidence the young
astronomer traversed the circumference of his lofty eyrie, pausing from
time to time to gaze through one of the embrasures of the parapet upon
the incomparable scene below. Accustomed as he was to the arid glory
of California, he found a grateful refreshment in this far greener
country. The tower was like a Pisgah, from which he gazed upon the
promised land with eyes that wearied of the desert.

CHAPTER III

CARDINGTON

Leigh stood before the mirror in his bedroom and wrestled with his tie
in preparation for the bishop's dinner. The week had brought in due
course that procession of events which makes the opening of a college
term a period of exceptional activity, but for the first time he had
passed through the trial untaxed. He was slowly recovering from a
sense of disappointment similar to that felt by a metropolitan at some
Arcadian retreat, when he stands on the lonely platform at nightfall,
listening to the trilling of the frogs increasing as the rumble of the
train diminishes in the distance, and experiences a wild impulse to
return at once to the fulness of life from which he has fled.

In the ample leisure afforded by his new position Leigh discovered an
analogous consciousness of loss, with its consequent dismay. He had
known many solitary hours when, as a student in the Lick Observatory,
he had searched the skies for long months together; but the experience
was overlaid by one more recent, so that now, with the varied life of a
great university still ringing in his ears, he looked about and asked
himself disconsolately if this were all. Had he plumbed the
possibilities of the place in so short a time? And, if so, what was
left for him in the year to come?

An answer to this question was suggested by his present occupation. If
he could now and again leave the rarefied atmosphere of the hill for
some such diversion as the one in prospect, he would return better able
to make good use of that solitude in which real achievement is shaped.

As yet there seemed small chance that such diversions would become
sufficiently numerous to interfere with his work. He had met the other
nine members of the faculty, and while he found them courteous, he
became at once aware that their attitude toward him as a newcomer was
one