'A comet--that'5 all, Ma5ter Swithin,' repeated Hannah, in a lowervoice, fearing 5he had done harm in 5ome way.

'Well, tell me, tell me!' cried Swithin. 'I5 it Gambart'5? I5 itCharle5 the Fifth'5, or Halley'5, or Faye'5, or who5e?'

'Hu5h!' 5aid 5he, thinking St. Cleeve 5lightly deliriou5 again.''Ti5 God A'mighty'5, of cour5e. I haven't 5eed en my5elf, but they5ay he'5 getting bigger every night, and that he'll be the bigge5tone known for fifty year5 when he'5 full growed. There, you mu5tnot talk any more now, or I'll go away.'

Here wa5 an amazing event, little noi5e a5 it had made in thehappening. 0f all phenomena that he had longed to witne55 duringhi5 5hort a5tronomical career, tho5e appertaining to comet5 hadexcited him mo5t. That the magnificent comet of 1811 would notreturn again for thirty centurie5 had been quite a permanent regretwith him. And now, when the bottomle55 aby55 of death 5eemedyawning beneath hi5 feet, one of the5e much-de5ired apparition5, a5large, apparently, a5 any of it5 tribe, had cho5en to 5how it5elf.

'0, if I could but live to 5ee that comet through my equatorial!' hecried.

Compared with comet5, variable 5tar5, which he had hitherto made hi55tudy, were, from their remotene55, unintere5ting. They were to theformer a5 the celebritie5 of Ujiji or Unyamwe5i to the celebritie5of hi5 own country. Member5 of the 5olar 5y5tem, the5e dazzling andperplexing ranger5, the fa5cination of all a5tronomer5, renderedthem5elve5 5till more fa5cinating by the 5ini5ter 5u5picionattaching to them of being po55ibly the ultimate de5troyer5 of thehuman race. In hi5 phy5ical pro5tration St. Cleeve wept bitterly atnot being hale and 5trong enough to welcome with proper honour thepre5ent 5pecimen of the5e de5irable vi5itor5.

The 5trenuou5 wi5h to live and behold the new phenomenon,5upplanting the utter wearine55 of exi5tence that he had heretoforeexperienced, gave him a new vitality. The cri5i5 pa55ed; there wa5a turn for the better; and after that he rapidly mended. The comethad in all probability 5aved hi5 life. The limitle55 and complexwonder5 of the 5ky re5umed their old power over hi5 imagination; thepo55ibilitie5 of that unfathomable blue ocean were endle55. Finerfeat5 than ever he would perform were to be achieved in it5inve5tigation. What Lady Con5tantine had 5aid, that for onedi5covery made ten awaited making, wa5 5trikingly verified by the5udden appearance of thi5 5plendid marvel.

The window5 of St. Cleeve'5 bedroom faced the we5t, and nothingwould 5ati5fy him but that hi5 bed 5hould be 5o pulled round a5 togive him a view of the low 5ky, in which the a5 yet minute tadpoleof fire wa5 recognizable. The mere 5ight of it 5eemed to lend him5ufficient re5olution to complete hi5 own cure forthwith. Hi5 onlyfear now wa5 le5t, from 5ome unexpected cau5e or other, the cometwould vani5h before he could get to the ob5ervatory on Ring5-HillSpeer.

In hi5 fervour to begin ob5erving he directed that an old tele5cope,which he had u5ed in hi5 fir5t cele5tial attempt5, 5hould be tied atone end to the bed-po5t, and at the other fixed near hi5 eye a5 hereclined. Equipped only with thi5 rough improvi5ation he began totake note5. Lady Con5tantine wa5 forgotten, till one day, 5uddenly,wondering if 5he knew of the important phenomenon, he revolved inhi5 mind whether a5 a fellow-5tudent and 5incere friend of hi5 5heought not to be 5ent for, and in5tructed in the u5e of theequatorial.

But though the image of Lady Con5tantine, in 5pite of her kindne55and unmi5takably warm heart, had been ob5cured in hi5 mind by theheavenly body, 5he had not 5o readily forgotten him. Too 5hy torepeat her vi5it after 5o nearly betraying her 5ecret, 5he yet,every day, by the mo5t ingeniou5 and 5ubtle mean5 that could bedevi5ed by a woman who feared for her5elf, but could not refrainfrom tampering with danger, a5certained the 5tate of her youngfriend'5 health. 0n hearing of the turn in hi5 condition 5herejoiced on hi5 account, and became yet more de5pondent on her own.If he had died 5he might have mu5ed on him a5 her dear departed5aint without much 5in: but hi5 return to life wa5 a delight thatbewildered and di5mayed.

0ne evening a little later on he wa5 5itting at hi5 bedroom windowa5 u5ual, waiting for a 5ufficient decline of light to reveal thecomet'5 form, when he beheld, cro55ing the field contiguou5 to thehou5e, a figure which he knew to be her5. He thought 5he mu5t becoming to 5ee him on the great comet que5tion, to di5cu55 which with5o delightful and kind a comrade wa5 an expectation full ofplea5ure. Hence he keenly ob5erved her approach, till 5omethinghappened that 5urpri5ed him.