'My only possible other chance would lie in going away,' he resumed after

a moment's reflection, with his eyes on the lantern flame, which waved

and smoked in the currents of air that leaked into the dome from the

fierce wind-stream without. 'If I might take away the equatorial,

supposing it possible that I could find some suitable place for observing

in the southern hemisphere,--say, at the Cape,--I _might_ be able to

apply myself to serious work again, after the lapse of a little time.

The southern constellations offer a less exhausted field for investigation.

I wonder if I might!' 'You mean,' she answered uneasily, 'that you might apply yourself to work

when your recollection of me began to fade, and my life to become a

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matter of indifference to you? . . Yes, go! No,--I cannot bear it!

The remedy is worse than the disease. I cannot let you go away!' 'Then how can you refuse the only condition on which I can stay, without ruin to my purpose and scandal to your name? Dearest, agree to my proposal, as you love both me and yourself!' He waited, while the fir-trees rubbed and prodded the base of the tower, and the wind roared around and shook it; but she could not find words to reply.

'Would to God,' he burst out, 'that I might perish here, like Winstanley

in his lighthouse! Then the difficulty would be solved for you.' 'You are so wrong, so very wrong, in saying so!' she exclaimed passionately. 'You may doubt my wisdom, pity my short-sightedness; but

there is one thing you do know,--that I love you dearly!' 'You do,--I know it!' he said, softened in a moment. 'But it seems such a simple remedy for the difficulty that I cannot see how you can mind

adopting it, if you care so much for me as I do for you.' 'Should we live . . . just as we are, exactly, . . . supposing I agreed?' she faintly inquired.

'Yes, that is my idea.' 'Quite privately, you say. How could--the marriage be quite private?' 'I would go away to London and get a license. Then you could come to me,

and return again immediately after the ceremony. I could return at

leisure and not a soul in the world would know what had taken place.

Think, dearest, with what a free conscience you could then assist me in

my efforts to plumb these deeps above us! Any feeling that you may now

have against clandestine meetings as such would then be removed, and our

hearts would be at rest.' There was a certain scientific practicability even in his love-making,

and it here came out excellently. But she sat on with suspended breath,

her heart wildly beating, while he waited in open-mouthed expectation.

Each was swayed by the emotion within them, much as the candle-flame was

swayed by the tempest without. It was the most critical evening of their

lives.




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