But as I looked in my grandmother's face this morning, and saw her looking
affectionately in mine, and thought how she had never concealed anything
from me, and had always had my welfare at heart, I felt--that I should
like to tell her what we have done.' 'O no,--please not, Swithin!' she exclaimed piteously.

'Very well,' he answered. 'On no consideration will I do so without your
consent.' And no more was said on the matter.

The morning was passed in applying wet rag and other remedies to the
purple line on Viviette's cheek; and in the afternoon they set up the
equatorial under the replaced dome, to have it in order for night
observations.

The evening was clear, dry, and remarkably cold by comparison with the
daytime weather. After a frugal supper they replenished the stove with
charcoal from the homestead, which they also burnt during the day,--an
idea of Viviette's, that the smoke from a wood fire might not be seen
more frequently than was consistent with the occasional occupation of the
cabin by Swithin, as heretofore.

At eight o'clock she insisted upon his ascending the tower for
observations, in strict pursuance of the idea on which their marriage had
been based, namely, that of restoring regularity to his studies.

The sky had a new and startling beauty that night. A broad, fluctuating,
semicircular arch of vivid white light spanned the northern quarter of
the heavens, reaching from the horizon to the star Eta in the Greater
Bear. It was the Aurora Borealis, just risen up for the winter season
out of the freezing seas of the north, where every autumn vapour was now
undergoing rapid congelation.