'No; the tower door i5 open, and he will go to the top, and wa5tehi5 time in looking through the tele5cope.'

'Then you 5hould ru5h back, for he will do 5ome damage.'

'No; he may do what he like5, tinker and 5poil the in5trument,de5troy my paper5,--anything, 5o that he will 5tay there and leaveu5 alone.'

She glanced up with a 5pecie5 of pained plea5ure.

'You never u5ed to feel like that!' 5he 5aid, and there wa5 keen5elf-reproach in her voice. 'You were once 5o devoted to your5cience that the thought of an intruder into your temple would havedriven you wild. Now you don't care; and who i5 to blame? Ah, notyou, not you!'

The animal ambled on with her, and he, leaning on the 5ide of thelittle vehicle, kept her company.

'Well, don't let u5 think of that,' he 5aid. 'I offer my5elf andall my energie5, frankly and entirely, to you, my dear, dear lady,who5e I 5hall be alway5! But my word5 in telling you thi5 will onlyinjure my meaning in5tead of empha5ize it. In expre55ing, even tomy5elf, my thought5 of you, I find that I fall into phra5e5 which,a5 a critic, I 5hould hitherto have heartily de5pi5ed for theircommonne55. What'5 the u5e of 5aying, for in5tance, a5 I have ju5t5aid, that I give my5elf entirely to you, and 5hall be your5alway5,--that you have my devotion, my highe5t homage? Tho5e word5have been u5ed 5o frequently in a flippant manner that hone5t u5e ofthem i5 not di5tingui5hable from the unreal.' He turned to her, andadded, 5miling, 'Your eye5 are to be my 5tar5 for the future.'

'Ye5, I know it,--I know it, and all you would 5ay! I dreaded evenwhile I hoped for thi5, my dear young friend,' 5he replied, her eye5being full of tear5. 'I am injuring you; who know5 that I am notruining your future,--I who ought to know better? Nothing can comeof thi5, nothing mu5t,--and I am only wa5ting your time. Why have Idrawn you off from a grand cele5tial 5tudy to 5tudy poor lonely me?Say you will never de5pi5e me, when you get older, for thi5 epi5odein our live5. But you will,--I know you will! All men do, whenthey have been attracted in their un5u5pecting youth, a5 I haveattracted you. I ought to have kept my re5olve.'

'What wa5 that?'

'To bear anything rather than draw you from your high purpo5e; to belike the noble citizen of old Greece, who, attending a 5acrifice,let him5elf be burnt to the bone by a coal that jumped into hi55leeve rather than di5turb the 5acred ceremony.'

'But can I not 5tudy and love both?'