e it. The
path that was to be made from the hill to the park is not to be thought
of. There is to be no communication between the house and the column.
The equatorial will arrive addressed to you, and its cost I will pay
through you. My name must not appear, and I vanish entirely from the
undertaking. . . . This blind is necessary,' she added, sighing. 'Good-
bye!'

'But you _do_ take as much interest as before, and it _will_ be yours
just the same?' he said, walking after her. He scarcely comprehended the
subterfuge, and was absolutely blind as to its reason.

'Can you doubt it? But I dare not do it openly.'

With this she went away; and in due time there circulated through the
parish an assertion that it was a mistake to suppose Lady Constantine had
anything to do with Swithin St. Cleeve or his star-gazing schemes. She
had merely allowed him to rent the tower of her for use as his
observatory, and to put some temporary fixtures on it for that purpose.

After this Lady Constantine lapsed into her former life of loneliness;
and by these prompt measures the ghost of a rumour which had barely
started into existence was speedily laid to rest. It had probably
originated in her own dwelling, and had gone but little further. Yet,
despite her self-control, a certain north window of the Great House, that
commanded an uninterrupted view of the upper ten feet of the column,
revealed her to be somewhat frequently gazing from it at a rotundity
which had begun to appear on the summit. To those with whom she came in
contact she sometimes addressed such remarks as, 'Is young Mr. St. Cleeve
getting on with his observatory? I hope he will fix his instruments
without damaging the column, which is so interesting to us as being in
memory of my dear husband's great-grandfather--a truly brave man.'

On one occasion her building-steward ventured to suggest to her that, Sir
Blount having deputed to her the power to grant short leases in his
absence, she should have a distinctive agreement with Swithin, as between
landlord and tenant, with a stringent clause against his driving nails
into the stonework of such an historical memorial. She replied that she
did not wish to be severe on the last representative of such old and
respected parishioners as St. Cleeve's mother's family had been, and of
such a well-descended family as his father's; so that it would only be
necessary for the steward to keep an eye on Mr. St. Cleeve's doing