"My uncle is ready for us," she said to me.

We paused at the library door, for I laid my
hand restrainingly on Lucy Fraser's shoulder,
and stood listening to the wonderful music the
organ poured forth. It was such as I had never
heard before; roaring and swelling like the
ceaseless surging of the sea; and, here and there,
a single wailing note which seemed to pierce
me with an inexpressible pain. When it had ended,
I stood before Martin Fraser silent and subdued.

The telescope had been carried out to the end
of the terrace, where the house could not
intercept our view; and thither Lucy Fraser and I
followed the astronomer. We stood upon the
highest point of an imperceptibly rising table-
land, the horizon of which was from twenty to
forty miles distant. An infinite dome of sky
was expanded above us, an ocean of firmament of
which the dwellers among houses and
mountains can have but little conception. The troops
of glittering stars, the dark, shrouding night,
the unaccustomed voices of my companions,
deepened the awe that oppressed me, and, as I
stood between them, I became as earnest and
occupied as themselves. I forgot everything
but the incomprehensible grandeur of the
universe revealed to me, and the majestic sweep of
the planets across the field of the telescope.
What a freshness of awe and delight came over
me! What floods of thought came, wave upon
wave, across my mind! And how insignificant
I felt before this wilderness of worlds!

I asked, with the humility of a child —for all
affectation had been charmed away — if I might
come again soon ?

Martin Fraser met my uplifted eyes with a
keen and penetrating look. I did not quail under
it, for I was thinking only of the stars. As
he looked, his mouth relaxed into a pleased and
genial smile.

"We shall always be glad to see you," he
replied.

Barbara was sitting up for me when I
returned, and was about to address me with
some worldly speculative remark, when I
interrupted her quickly. "Not one word, Barbara,
not one question, or I never go near The Holmes
again."

I cannot dwell upon details. I went often to the
house. Into the dull routine of Mr. Fraser's and
Lucy's life, I came (I suppose) like a streak
of sunshine, lighting up the cloud that had
been creeping over them. To both, I brought
wholesome excitement and merriment, and so I
became dear and necessary to them. But over
myself, there came a great and an almost incredible
change. I had been frivolous, self-seeking, soulless;
but the solemn study I had begun, with
other studies that came in its train, awoke me
from my inanity, to a life of mental activity. I
absolutely forgot my purpose; for I had at once
perceived that Martin Fraser was as distant and
as self-poised as the Polar Star. So I became to
him merely a diligent and insatiable pupil, and
he was to me only a grave and exacting master,
to be propitiated by my most profound
reverence. Each time I crossed the threshold of
his quiet home, all the worldliness and coquetry
of my nature fell from my soul like an unfit
garment, and I entered as into a temple, simple,
real, and worshipping.

The happy summer passed away, the
autumn crept on, and for eight months I had
visited the Frasers constantly, and had never, by
word, or look, or tone, intentionally deceived them.

Lucy Fraser and I had long looked forward to
an eclipse of the moon, which was visible early
in October. I left my home alone in the
twilight of that evening, my thoughts dwelling
upon the coming pleasure, when, just as I drew
near The Holmes, there overtook me one of the
young men with whom I had flirted in former
times.

"Good evening, Stella," he exclaimed
familiarly, "I have not seen you for a long time.
Ah! you are pursuing other game I suppose;
but are you not aiming rather too high this
time? Well, you are in luck just now, for if
Martin Fraser does not come forward, there is
George Yorke, just come home from Australia
with an immense fortune, and he is longing to
remind you of some tender passages between
you before he went out. He was showing us a
lock of your hair after dinner at the Crown
yesterday."

I listened to this speech with no outward
demonstration; but the reality and mortification
of my degradation was gnawing me; and,
hastening onward to my sanctuary, I sought the
presence of my little Lucy Fraser.

"I have done wrong to-day," she said. "I
have been deceitful. I think I ought to tell you,
that you may not think too well of me; but I
want you to love me as much as ever. I have
not told a story, but I have acted one."

Lucy Fraser leaned her tiny brow upon her tiny
fingers, and her eyes closed in silent self-reading.

"My uncle says," she continued, looking up
for a moment, and blushing like a woman, "that
women are, perhaps, less truthful than men.
Because they cannot do things by strength, they
do them by cunning. They live falsely. They
deceive their own selves. Sometimes women
deceive for amusement. He has taught me some
words which I shall understand better some day:

                     To thine own self be true,
    And it will follow as the night the day,
    Thou canst not then be false to any man."

I stood before the child abashed and speechless,
listening with burning cheeks.

"Grandpapa showed me a verse in the Bible
which is awful to me. Listen. 'I find more
bitter than death, the woman whose heart is
snares and nets, and her hands as bands: whoso
pleaseth God shall escape from her, but the
sinner shall be taken by her.'"

I hid my face in my hands though no eye was
on me; for Lucy Fraser had veiled hers with
their tremulous lids; and, as I stood confounded
and self-accused, a hand was laid upon my arm,
and Martin Fraser's voice said,

"The eclipse, Stella!"

I started at this first utterance of my name,
which he had never spoken before. I was