Emmet had taken with his sleigh when he picked Lena up on that very spot
some two months before. It wanted yet an hour of his lunch time, and he
had come forth with no other thought than to get the fresh air and to
turn over again in his mind the plans of which he had hinted to the
bishop.

After his interview with Dr. Renshaw, he had written to the authorities
of the Lick Observatory and asked permission to join one of the three
expeditions that were soon to be sent out to observe the approaching
eclipse of the sun. It was too early as yet for a reply, but he had
reason to believe that his previous connection with the observatory and
his record there would assure the granting of his request, if the number
were not entirely completed. Already he imagined himself transported to
Norway, or South America, or Egypt. He could not tell which expedition,
if any, he would be permitted to join, but of the three, the last named
was most to his mind.

Felicity had become interwoven with his consciousness of himself, and in
thinking of Egypt he pictured her there with him, a vivid creation of
memory and imagination. Some association of ideas between her and the
country that had given birth to Cleopatra must have influenced him in his
choice, he reflected with a disconsolate smile. The association did
Felicity little justice in one way, but the impossibility of imagining
her at home on the cold heights of Norway or the Andes showed her kinship
with the land of colour and nocturnal mystery.

Sometimes he felt that he must brush aside all opposition of persons and
circumstance and beg her to go with him, leaving the world to gape and
wonder as it might. It was only a fevered dream, but it suggested
another possibility that presently became a definite resolve. At least
he would see her again, and beg her not to go blundering back into the
arms of the man she did not love. He would plead with her not to try to
rectify one mistake by making another more fatal still. Did he not owe
it to her and to himself to make one last effort for their happiness?
Had he a right to desert her in her trouble, to yield supinely to a
conventional prejudice?

He was in the glow of this new resolve when he climbed the hill to the
south of the college and turned to follow the road along the ridge which
Felicity and Emmet had taken that misty night. At the quarry he paused
for a few moments to look down absently at the men working below, and
t