“Planets do not twinkle.”
“What are planets?”
“Worlds on high. Stars that flash are suns that illumine worlds. They glitter with their own light; planets shine with borrowed, reflected light.”
“The planets are worlds?”
“Yes.”
“Very tiny ones?”
“Not at all. Some are far larger than our globe. They circle round our sun.”
Kate looked the young man steadily in the face. The thought was too great, too awful, to be received at once. She supposed he was joking. But his countenance was an assurance to her that he spoke the truth.
“Oh,” said she, with a long breath, “what it is to know!”
“There is no higher pleasure.”