this comfortable thought he climbed slowly up the broken tortuous
path which led to the Black Hill, and every now and then would pause
to rest, and admire the view.

It was now nearly six o'clock, and the sun was sinking amid a blaze
of splendour. The whole of the western sky was a sea of shimmering
gold, and this, intensified near the horizon to almost blinding
brightness, faded off towards the zenith of the sky into a delicate
green, and thence melted imperceptibly into a cold blue.

Villiers, however, being of the earth, earthy, could not be troubled
looking very long at such a common-place sight as a sunset; the same
thing occurred every evening, and he had more important things to do
than to waste his time gratifying his artistic eye. Arriving on the
plateau of earth just in front of the gully, he was soon entering
the narrow gorge, and tramped steadily along in deep thought, with
bent head and wrinkled brows. The way being narrow, and Villiers
being preoccupied, it was not surprising that as a man was coming
down in the opposite direction, also preoccupied, they should run
against one another. When this took place it gave Mr Villiers rather
a start, as it suggested a possible witness to the deed he
contemplated, a thing for which he was by no means anxious.

'Really, sir,' said the stranger, in a rich, rolling voice, and in a
dignified tone, 'I think you might look where you are going. From
what I saw of you, your eyes were not fixed on the stars, and thus
to cause your unwatched feet to stumble; in fact,' said the speaker,
looking up to the sky, 'I see no stars whereon you could fix your
gaze.'