planets and their satellites. I should not like to say that the
population of space is going down; but on the whole it may be
stationary. I wish I could show you the cluster in Toucan, a rosy star
in a ring of white ones."

"Like a brooch of pearls," said Miss Carmichael.

"Yes--not unlike that," responded Gazen, evidently amused at her
comparison. "But that constellation is in the Southern Hemisphere.
However, here is the 'ring' or 'planetary' nebula in the Lyre."

"What a wonderful thing!" exclaimed Miss Carmichael, with her eye at the
instrument. "It looks to me like a golden hoop, with diamond dust
inside."

I do not know where Miss Carmichael got her knowledge of jewellery, for
to all appearance she wore none.

"Or the cup of a flower," she added, raising her head.

"Poets have called the stars 'fleurs de ciel,'" said Gazen, shifting the
telescope, "and if so, the nebula are the orchids; for they imitate
crabs, birds, dumb-bells, spirals, and so forth. Take a look at this
one, and tell us what you think of it."

"I see a cloud of silver light in the dark sky," said Miss Carmichael,
after observing it.

"What does it resemble?"