But curiously enough they were not thinking of quite the same indiscretion. There was a pause. “I would like a day to think, sir, and then I will let you know—about going home, I mean,” said Hill, moving towards the door. The next day Hill’s place was vacant. The spectacled girl in green was, as usual, first with the news. Wedderburn and Miss Haysman were talking of the Meistersingers, when she came up to them. “Have you heard?” she said. “Heard what?” “There was cheating in the examination.” “Cheating!” said Wedderburn, with his face suddenly hot. “How?” “That slide—” “Moved? Never!” “It was. That slide that we weren’t to move—” “Nonsense!” said Wedderburn. “Why! How could they find out? Who do they say—” “It was Mr. Hill.” “_Hill_!” “Mr. Hill!” “Not—surely not the immaculate Hill?” said Wedderburn, recovering. “I don’t believe it,” said Miss Haysman. “How do you know?” “I _didn’t_,” said the girl in spectacles. “But I know it now for a fact. Mr. Hill went and confessed to Professor Bindon himself.” “By Jove!” said Wedderburn. “Hill of all people—But I am always inclined to distrust these philanthropists-on-principle—” “Are you quite sure?” said Miss Haysman, with a catch in her breath. “Quite. It’s dreadful, isn’t it? But you know, what can you expect? His father is a cobbler—” Then Miss Haysman astonished the girl in spectacles. “I don’t care. I will not believe it,” she said, flushing darkly under her warm-tinted skin. “I will not believe it until he has told me so himself—face to face. I would scarcely believe it then,” and abruptly she turned her back on the girl in spectacles, and walked to her own place. “It’s true, all the same,” said the girl in spectacles, peering and smiling at Wedderburn. But Wedderburn did not answer her. She was, indeed, one of those people who are destined to make unanswered remarks. IN THE AVU OBSERVATORY The observatory at Avu, in Borneo, stands on the spur of the mountain. To the north rises the old crater, black against the unfathomable blue of the sky. From the little circular building, with its mushroom dome, the slopes plunge steeply downward into the black mysteries of the tropical forest beneath. The little house in which the observer and his assistant live is about fifty yards from the observatory, and beyond this are the huts of their native attendants.