But beyond the simple fact that she was a widow he for some time gained

not an atom of intelligence concerning her. There was no one of whom he

could inquire but his grandmother, and she could tell him nothing about a

lady who dwelt far away at Melchester.

Several months slipped by thus; and no feeling within him rose to

sufficient strength to force him out of a passive attitude. Then by the

merest chance his granny stated in one of her rambling epistles that Lady

Constantine was coming to live again at Welland in the old house, with

her child, now a little boy between three and four years of age.

Swithin, however, lived on as before.

Advertisement..

But by the following autumn a change became necessary for the young man

himself. His work at the Cape was done. His uncle's wishes that he

should study there had been more than observed. The materials for his

great treatise were collected, and it now only remained for him to

arrange, digest, and publish them, for which purpose a return to England

was indispensable.

So the equatorial was unscrewed, and the stand taken down; the

astronomer's barrow-load of precious memoranda, and rolls upon rolls of

diagrams, representing three years of continuous labour, were safely

packed; and Swithin departed for good and all from the shores of Cape

Town.

He had long before informed his grandmother of the date at which she

might expect him; and in a reply from her, which reached him just

previous to sailing, she casually mentioned that she frequently saw Lady

Constantine; that on the last occasion her ladyship had shown great

interest in the information that Swithin was coming home, and had

inquired the time of his return.

* * * * *

On a late summer day Swithin stepped from the train at Warborne, and,

directing his baggage to be sent on after him, set out on foot for old

Welland once again.

It seemed but the day after his departure, so little had the scene

changed. True, there was that change which is always the first to arrest

attention in places that are conventionally called unchanging--a higher

and broader vegetation at every familiar corner than at the former time.

He had not gone a mile when he saw walking before him a clergyman whose

form, after consideration, he recognized, in spite of a novel whiteness

in that part of his hair that showed below the brim of his hat.

Swithin walked much faster than this gentleman, and soon was at his side.

'Mr. Torkingham! I knew it was,' said Swithin.

Mr. Torkingham was slower in recognizing the astronomer, but in a moment

had greeted him with a warm shake of the hand.




Most Popular