Lady Constantine then had the pleasure of beholding¹ a waggon², laden³ with packing-cases, moving across the field towards the pillar; and not many days later Swithin, who had never come to the Great House since the luncheon⁴, met her in a path which he knew to be one of her promenades⁵.

‘The equatorial is fixed⁶, and the man gone,’ he said, half in doubt as to his speech, for her commands to him not to recognize her agency or patronage⁷ still puzzled him. ‘I respectfully wish — you could come and see it, Lady Constantine.’

‘I would rather not; I cannot.’

‘Saturn is lovely; Jupiter is simply sublime⁸; I can see double stars in the Lion and in the Virgin⁹, where I had seen only a single one before. It is all I required to set me going!’

‘I’ll come. But — you need say nothing about my visit. I cannot come to-night, but I will some time this week. Yet only this once, to try the instrument. Afterwards you must be content to pursue your studies alone.’

Swithin seemed but little affected¹⁰ at this announcement. ‘Hilton and Pimm’s man handed me the bill,’ he continued.

‘How much is it?’

He told her. ‘And the man who has built the hut and dome¹¹, and done the other fixing, has sent in his.’ He named this amount also.

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