icus of the stellar system, and I have begun to
be. Yet who knows?'

'Now don't be so up and down! I shall not understand your explanation,
and I would rather not know it. I shall reveal it if it is very grand.
Women, you know, are not safe depositaries of such valuable secrets. You
may walk with me a little way, with great pleasure. Then go and write
your account, so as to insure your ownership of the discovery. . . . But
how you have watched!' she cried, in a sudden accession of anxiety, as
she turned to look more closely at him. 'The orbits of your eyes are
leaden, and your eyelids are red and heavy. Don't do it--pray don't. You
will be ill, and break down.'

'I have, it is true, been up a little late this last week,' he said
cheerfully. 'In fact, I couldn't tear myself away from the equatorial;
it is such a wonderful possession that it keeps me there till daylight.
But what does that matter, now I have made the discovery?'

'Ah, it _does_ matter! Now, promise me--I insist--that you will not
commit such imprudences again; for what should I do if my Astronomer
Royal were to die?'

She laughed, but far too apprehensively to be effective as a display of
levity.

They parted, and he went home to write out his paper. He promised to
call as soon as his discovery was in print. Then they waited for the
result.

It is impossible to describe the tremulous state of Lady Constantine
during the interval. The warm interest she took in Swithin St.
Cleeve--many would have said dangerously warm interest--made his hopes
her hopes; and though she sometimes admitted to herself that great
allowance was requisite for the overweening confidence of youth in the
future, she permitted herself to be blinded to probabilities for the
pleasure of sharing his dreams. It seemed not unreasonable to suppose
the present hour to be the beginning of realization to her darling wish
that this young man should become famous. He had worked hard, and why
should he not be famous early? His very simplicity in mundane affairs
afforded a strong presumption that in things celestial he might be wise.
To obtain support for this hypothesis she had only to think over the
lives of many eminent astronomers.

She waited feverishly for the flourish of trumpets from afar, by which
she expected the announcement of his discovery to be greeted. Knowing
that immediate intelligence of the outburst would be brought to her by
himself, she watched from