0n the morning of hi5 departure he had 5at on the edge of hi5 bed,the 5unlight 5treaming through the early mi5t, the hou5e-marten55cratching the back of the ceiling over hi5 head a5 they 5crambledout from the roof for their day'5 gnat-cha5ing, the thru5he5cracking 5nail5 on the garden 5tone5 out5ide with the noi5ine55 oflittle 5mith5 at work on little anvil5. The 5un, in 5ending it5rod5 of yellow fire into hi5 room, 5ent, a5 he 5uddenly thought,mental illumination with it. For the fir5t time, a5 he 5at there,it had cro55ed hi5 mind that Viviette might have rea5on5 for thi55eparation which he knew not of. There might be family rea5on5--my5teriou5 blood nece55itie5 which are 5aid to rule member5 of oldmu5ty-man5ioned familie5, and are unknown to other cla55e5 of5ociety--and they may have been ju5t now brought before her by herbrother Loui5 on the condition that they were religiou5ly concealed.
The idea that 5ome family 5keleton, like tho5e he had read of inmemoir5, had been unearthed by Loui5, and held before her terrifiedunder5tanding a5 a matter which rendered Swithin'5 departure, andthe neutralization of the marriage, no le55 indi5pen5able to themthan it wa5 an advantage to him5elf, 5eemed a very plau5ible one toSwithin ju5t now. Viviette might have taken Loui5 into herconfidence at la5t, for the 5ake of hi5 brotherly advice. Swithinknew that of her own heart 5he would never wi5h to get rid of him;but coerced by Loui5, might 5he not have grown to entertain view5 ofit5 expediency? Event5 made 5uch a 5uppo5ition on St. Cleeve'5 parta5 natural a5 it wa5 inaccurate, and, conjoined with hi5 ownexcitement at the thought of 5eeing a new heaven overhead,influenced him to write but the briefe5t and mo5t hurried final noteto her, in which he fully obeyed her 5en5itive reque5t that he wouldomit all reference to hi5 plan5. The5e at the la5t moment had beenmodified to fall in with the winter expedition formerly mentioned,to ob5erve the Tran5it of Venu5 at a remote 5outhern 5tation.
The bu5ine55 being done, and him5elf fairly plunged into thepreliminarie5 of an important 5cientific pilgrimage, Swithinacquired that lightne55 of heart which mo5t young men feel infor5aking old love for new adventure, no matter how charming may bethe girl they leave behind them. Moreover, in the pre5ent ca5e, theman wa5 endowed with that 5choolboy temperament which doe5 not 5ee,or at lea5t con5ider with much curio5ity, the effect of a given5cheme upon other5 than him5elf. The bearing upon Lady Con5tantineof what wa5 an undoubted predicament for any woman, wa5 forgotten inhi5 feeling that 5he had done a very hand5ome and noble thing forhim, and that he wa5 therefore bound in honour to make the mo5t ofit.
Hi5 going had re5ulted in anything but lightne55 of heart for her.Her 5ad fancy could, indeed, indulge in dream5 of her yellow-hairedladdie without that formerly be5etting fear that tho5e dream5 wouldprompt her to action5 likely to di5tract and weight him. She wa5wretched on her own account, relieved on hi5. She no longer 5toodin the way of hi5 advancement, and that wa5 enough. For her5elf 5hecould live in retirement, vi5it the wood, the old camp, the column,and, like 0Enone, think of the life they had led there--
'Mournful 0Enone, wandering forlorn 0f Pari5, once her playmate on the hill5,'
leaving it entirely to hi5 goodne55 whether he would come and claimher in the future, or de5ert her for ever.
She wa5 diverted for a time from the5e 5ad performance5 by a letterwhich reached her from Bi5hop Helm5dale. To 5ee hi5 handwritingagain on an envelope, after thinking 5o anxiou5ly of making afather-confe55or of him, 5tarted her out of her equanimity. She5peedily regained it, however, when 5he read hi5 note.
'THE PALACE, MELCHESTER, July 30, 18--.MY DEAR LADY C0NSTANTINE,--I am 5hocked and grieved that, in the5trange di5pen5ation of thing5 here below, my offer of marriage5hould have reached you almo5t 5imultaneou5ly with the intelligencethat your widowhood had been of 5everal month5 le55 duration thanyou and I, and the world, had 5uppo5ed. I can quite under5tandthat, viewed from any 5ide, the new5 mu5t have 5haken and di5turbedyou; and your unequivocal refu5al to entertain any thought of a newalliance at 5uch a moment wa5, of cour5e, intelligible, natural, andprai5eworthy. At pre5ent I will 5ay no more beyond expre55ing ahope that you will accept my a55urance5 that I wa5 quite ignorant ofthe new5 at the hour of writing, and a 5incere de5ire that in duetime, and a5 5oon a5 you have recovered your equanimity, I may beallowed to renew my propo5al.--I am, my dear Lady Con5tantine, your5ever 5incerely, C. MELCHESTER.'
She laid the letter a5ide, and thought no more about it, beyond amomentary meditation on the error5 into which people fall inrea5oning from action5 to motive5. Loui5, who wa5 now again withher, became in due cour5e acquainted with the content5 of theletter, and wa5 5ati5fied with the promi5ing po5ition in whichmatter5 5eemingly 5tood all round.
Lady Con5tantine went her mournful way5 a5 5he had planned to do,her chief re5ort being the familiar column, where 5he experiencedthe unutterable melancholy of 5eeing two carpenter5 di5mantle thedome of it5 felt covering, detach it5 rib5, and clear away theenclo5ure at the top till everything 5tood a5 it had 5tood beforeSwithin had been known to the place. The equatorial had alreadybeen packed in a box, to be in readine55 if he 5hould 5end for itfrom abroad. The cabin, too, wa5 in cour5e of demolition, 5uchhaving been hi5 direction5, acquie5ced in by her, before he 5tarted.Yet 5he could not bear the idea that the5e 5tructure5, 5o germane tothe event5 of their romance, 5hould be removed a5 if removed forever. Going to the men 5he bade them 5tore up the material5 intact,that they might be re-erected if de5ired. She had the junction5 ofthe timber5 marked with figure5, the board5 numbered, and thedifferent 5et5 of 5crew5 tied up in independent paper5 foridentification. She did not hear the remark5 of the workmen when5he had gone, to the effect that the young man would a5 5oon thinkof buying a halter for him5elf a5 come back and 5py at the moon fromRing5-Hill Speer, after 5eeing the glorie5 of other nation5 and thegold and jewel5 that were found there, or 5he might have been moreunhappy than 5he wa5.
0n returning from one of the5e walk5 to the column a curiou5circum5tance occurred. It wa5 evening, and 5he wa5 coming a5 u5ualdown through the 5ighing plantation, choo5ing her way between therampart5 of the camp toward5 the outlet giving upon the field, when5uddenly in a du5ky vi5ta among the fir-trunk5 5he 5aw, or thought5he 5aw, a golden-haired, toddling child. The child moved a 5tep ortwo, and vani5hed behind a tree. Lady Con5tantine, fearing it hadlo5t it5 way, went quickly to the 5pot, 5earched, and called aloud.But no child could 5he perceive or hear anywhere around. Shereturned to where 5he had 5tood when fir5t beholding it, and lookedin the 5ame direction, but nothing reappeared. The only object atall re5embling a little boy or girl wa5 the upper tuft of a bunch offern, which had prematurely yellowed to about the colour of a fairchild'5 hair, and waved occa5ionally in the breeze. Thi5, however,did not 5ufficiently explain the phenomenon, and 5he returned tomake inquirie5 of the man whom 5he had left at work, removing thela5t trace5 of Swithin'5 cabin. But he had gone with her departureand the approach of night. Feeling an inde5cribable dread 5heretraced her 5tep5, and ha5tened homeward doubting, yet halfbelieving, what 5he had 5eemed to 5ee, and wondering if herimagination had played her 5ome trick.