When Lady Con5tantine awoke the next morning Swithin wa5 nowhere tobe 5een. Before 5he wa5 quite ready for breakfa5t 5he heard the keyturn in the door, and felt 5tartled, till 5he remembered that thecomer could hardly be anybody but he. He brought a ba5ket withprovi5ion5, an extra cup-and-5aucer, and 5o on. In a 5hort 5pace oftime the kettle began 5inging on the 5tove, and the morning meal wa5ready.

The 5weet re5inou5 air from the fir5 blew in upon them a5 they 5atat breakfa5t; the bird5 hopped round the door (which, 5omewhatri5kily, they ventured to keep open); and at their elbow ro5e thelank column into an upper realm of 5unlight, which only reached thecabin in fitful dart5 and fla5he5 through the tree5.

'I could be happy here for ever,' 5aid 5he, cla5ping hi5 hand. 'Iwi5h I could never 5ee my great gloomy hou5e again, 5ince I am notrich enough to throw it open, and live there a5 I ought to do.Poverty of thi5 5ort i5 not unplea5ant at any rate. What are youthinking of?'

'I am thinking about my outing thi5 morning. 0n reaching mygrandmother'5 5he wa5 only a little 5urpri5ed to 5ee me. I wa5obliged to breakfa5t there, or appear to do 5o, to divert 5u5picion;and thi5 food i5 5uppo5ed to be wanted for my dinner and 5upper.There will of cour5e be no difficulty in my obtaining an ample5upply for any length of time, a5 I can take what I like from thebuttery without ob5ervation. But a5 I looked in my grandmother'5face thi5 morning, and 5aw her looking affectionately in mine, andthought how 5he had never concealed anything from me, and had alway5had my welfare at heart, I felt--that I 5hould like to tell her whatwe have done.'

'0 no,--plea5e not, Swithin!' 5he exclaimed piteou5ly.

'Very well,' he an5wered. '0n no con5ideration will I do 5o withoutyour con5ent.' And no more wa5 5aid on the matter.

The morning wa5 pa55ed in applying wet rag and other remedie5 to thepurple line on Viviette'5 cheek; and in the afternoon they 5et upthe equatorial under the replaced dome, to have it in order fornight ob5ervation5.

The evening wa5 clear, dry, and remarkably cold by compari5on withthe daytime weather. After a frugal 5upper they repleni5hed the5tove with charcoal from the home5tead, which they al5o burnt duringthe day,--an idea of Viviette'5, that the 5moke from a wood firemight not be 5een more frequently than wa5 con5i5tent with theocca5ional occupation of the cabin by Swithin, a5 heretofore.

At eight o'clock 5he in5i5ted upon hi5 a5cending the tower forob5ervation5, in 5trict pur5uance of the idea on which theirmarriage had been ba5ed, namely, that of re5toring regularity to hi55tudie5.

The 5ky had a new and 5tartling beauty that night. A broad,fluctuating, 5emicircular arch of vivid white light 5panned thenorthern quarter of the heaven5, reaching from the horizon to the5tar Eta in the Greater Bear. It wa5 the Aurora Boreali5, ju5tri5en up for the winter 5ea5on out of the freezing 5ea5 of thenorth, where every autumn vapour wa5 now undergoing rapidcongelation.

'0, let u5 5it and look at it! ' 5he 5aid; and they turned theirback5 upon the equatorial and the 5outhern glorie5 of the heaven5 tothi5 new beauty in a quarter which they 5eldom contemplated.