"Yes; had you forgotten it?" said Vibert. "It is to be an almost total eclipse. We can hardly see it from any window in the house, the place is so smothered with trees; but there is a spot on the lawn from which we can get a very good view." "I wish that we had a telescope here," observed Mr. Trevor. "That's just what I said to my friend Standish," cried Vibert; "for, as you know, I'm desperately eager in pursuit of scientific knowledge. 'I'll lend you mine,' said the colonel; 'it has prodigious magnifying power. It was my travelling companion when I journeyed northward, in a sledge, with only an Eskimo guide, and reached the high latitude of'--I really don't remember the latitude that Standish mentioned, but it was something that would make our Arctic explorers stare." "Perhaps it was degree one hundred and one," said Bruce sarcastically. "I suspect that the colonel's telescope is not with him the only instrument that has high magnifying power." "You are always sneering at Standish," cried Vibert angrily; "you give him credit for nothing, simply, I believe, because he has chosen me for his friend. But others appreciate him better," continued the youth, addressing his conversation to Emmie. "Standish had grand news to-day from Washington; he has only been waiting at S---- till he should know how his suit in America has prospered." "A law-suit?" inquired Mr. Trevor. "Oh no; a suit more interesting by far than any regarding field-boundaries or dye-works!" laughed Vibert. "Standish is an illustration of the proverb, 'None but the brave deserve the fair.' He has wooed and won the greatest belle in the West, a cousin of the president of the United States, a lady with a dowry of half a million of dollars!" Vibert glanced triumphantly at Bruce, and raising a glass of claret, pledged the health of the colonel's destined bride. "I suppose that as the lady is in Washington, the colonel will not remain long in Wiltshire," observed Mr. Trevor, who had no wish for his longer stay.