Full in front of him,
over Harwich town, hung the dainty constellation of Cassiopeia's
chair, and all around the vast army of heaven moved, silent and
radiant. One seemed to hear its breathing up there, across the deep
calm of the firmament.
He turned to the western horizon, to the spot where the Pleiades had
just set for the summer months, and lifting his glass moved it slowly
up towards Capella and the Kids, thence on to Perseus, and that most
gorgeous tract of the Milky Way which lies thereby. Now, in the
sword-handle of Perseus, as it is called, are set two clusters of
gems, by trying to count which the Captain had, before now, amused
himself for hours together. He was about to make another attempt,
and in fact had reached fifty-six, when he felt a light touch on his
elbow.
He faced quickly round. Behind him, on the balcony, stood his
daughter.
"Don't be angry," she entreated in a whisper. "I heard you come up.
I couldn't sleep until I saw you."
He looked at her sternly. Her feet were bare, and she wore but a
dark cloak over her night-rail. In the years since we last saw her
she had grown from an awkward girl into a lovely woman. Thick waves
of dark hair, disarranged with much tossing on her pillow, fell upon
her shoulders and straggled over the lace upon her bosom.
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