Two on a Tower

ploughmen, the blacksmith, the carpenter, the gardener at the Great House, the steward and agen

ere might be the regular professional hand present to toll the bell in a note of due fulness and solemnity; an attempt by a deput

came down upon the young man in the ninth chapter, and led to his alarming illness. Though, for that matter, so many maimed histori

eat bases f

e short than wa

eflex rule of the vassal soul over the sovereign body, which, operating so wonderfully in elastic nat

of his lost discovery. Although nearly unconscious at the time, he had yet been aware of that kiss, as the delicate flush which followed it upon his cheek would have told; but he had attached little importance to it as between woman and man. Had he been dying of love instead of wet

airs to pull down the blinds and as she advanced to the window he

king out of the window with sad apathy,

ying astronomer, sta

repeated Hannah, in a lower voice, f

'Is it Gambart's? Is it Charles the Fif

ven't seed en myself, but they say he's getting bigger every night, and that he'll be the biggest one

ning to comets had excited him most. That the magnificent comet of 1811 would not return again for thirty centuries had been quite a permanent regret with him. And now, whe

o see that comet through

country. Members of the solar system, these dazzling and perplexing rangers, the fascination of all astronomers, rendered themselves still more fascinating by the sinister suspicion attaching to them of being poss

t he rapidly mended. The comet had in all probability saved his life. The limitless and complex wonders of the sky resumed their old power over his imagination; the possibilities of that unfathomable blue ocean were endless. Fine

w sky, in which the as yet minute tadpole of fire was recognizable. The mere sight of it seemed to lend him sufficient resolution to complete his own cure f

fixed near his eye as he reclined. Equipped only with this rough improvisation he began to take notes. Lady Constantine was forgotten, till one day, suddenly, wondering if she knew

ecret, she yet, every day, by the most ingenious and subtle means that could be devised by a woman who feared for herself, but could not refrain from tampering with danger, ascertained the state of her young friend's health. On hearing of the tu

crossing the field contiguous to the house, a figure which he knew to be hers. He thought she must be coming to see him on the great comet question, to discuss w

still for a minute or more, her gaze bent on the ground. Instead of coming on to the house she went heavily and slowly back, alm