at every pause rallied
to the synod point with unbroken firmness. Everything which had been
discussed at that last session--such as the introduction of the lay
element into the councils of the church, the reconstitution of the
ecclesiastical courts, church patronage, the tithe question--was revived
by Mr. Torkingham, and the excellent remarks which the Bishop had made in
his addresses on those subjects were quoted back to him.

As for Bishop Helmsdale himself, his instincts seemed to be to allude in
a debonair spirit to the incidents of the past day--to the flowers in
Lady Constantine's beds, the date of her house--perhaps with a view of
hearing a little more about their owner from Louis, who would very
readily have followed the Bishop's lead had the parson allowed him room.
But this Mr. Torkingham seldom did, and about half-past nine they
prepared to separate.

Louis Glanville had risen from the table, and was standing by the window,
looking out upon the sky, and privately yawning, the topics discussed
having been hardly in his line.

'A fine night,' he said at last.

'I suppose our young astronomer is hard at work now,' said the Bishop,
following the direction of Louis's glance towards the clear sky.

'Yes,' said the parson; 'he is very assiduous whenever the nights are
good for observation. I have occasionally joined him in his tower, and
looked through his telescope with great benefit to my ideas of celestial
phenomena. I have not seen what he has been doing lately.'

'Suppose we stroll that way?' said Louis. 'Would you be interested in
seeing the observatory, Bishop?'

'I am quite willing to go,' said the Bishop, 'if the distance is not too
great. I should not be at all averse to making the acquaintance of so
exceptional a young man as this Mr. St. Cleeve seems to be; and I have
never seen the inside of an observatory in my life.'

The intention was no sooner formed than it was carried out, Mr.
Torkingham leading the way.

XXVI

Half an hour before this time Swithin St. Cleeve had been sitting in his
cabin at the base of the column, working out some figures from
observations taken on preceding nights, with a view to a theory that he
had in his head on the motions of certain so-called fixed stars.

The evening being a little chilly a small fire was burning in the stove,
and this and the shaded lamp before him lent a remarkably cosy air to the
chamber. He was awakened from his reveries by a s