evening. Not a breath of wind, not a cloud in the sky. Both nature
and humanity slumbered. A deep silence prevailed along the lane in
which the young couple were walking.

'Twas a charming spot, these lanes, bordered on either side by high
hedges of stone and earth, on which grew furze and grass, while here
and there, a solitary primrose--it was the month of March,--was
bending its slender stalk, loaded as it was with dew.

Conversation is an art. So is silence. The latter is even less known
than the former.

Both the young people were now silent as they proceeded towards "Les
Marches," but it was a silence which spoke. They knew each other's
thoughts, one heart spoke to the other; they were both impressed
with the supreme beauty of nature and filled with love, for that
same evening they had plighted their troth.

It was Frank who first broke the silence: "How beautifully serene
the sky is, Adele; almost as clear as your forehead."

"What an immense number of stars," she said, "astronomy must be a
beautiful pursuit."

"It must be," he replied. "To soar far above this earth, to
contemplate those worlds, to feel oneself lifted into space, to
visit the moon with its mountains and rivers, plateaux and lakes; to
accompany Venus and Mars and all the other planets in their course;
to float, as it were, amongst these gigantic masterpieces of the
Creator, to calculate their dimensions, to measure their course, to
weigh those monsters; to bring to light the treasures of metal which
they contain, by the aid of Spectrum. Analysis, all this and a great
deal more which is associated with the science must be indeed full
of wonderful exhiliration."

"To hear you talk, one would imagine that you yearn to be amongst
all those stars and planets," said Adele.

"It is not the case," he answered, "because--I'll tell you why--I am
content to have Venus so near to me."

"I am afraid you will have to be Mars," she said somewhat anxiously.

"Not a bit of it," he replied cheerfully, "Mars is generally
represented with a long beard, and look, I have but a slight
moustache; have you ever noticed," he continued, "that all these
planets move in circles. I think the circle is the ideal figure of
the Creator. Man cannot measure a circle or sphere."

"I thought the heavenly bodies moved in ellipses," she interrupted.

"Yes, but ellipses are but a form of circles."

"Of course, I had never thought about it before, one has so much to
le