cure for evermore. A stain of impurity seemed to have passed over
her life, which made her timid and apprehensive of all these so-called
friends who had thus misunderstood and deceived her.

The morning after that night she was awakened by Fanny, who came into
her room in her dressing-gown before it was quite light. The truth was,
Fanny had not slept very soundly, tormented as she was the whole time by
her fears, and by wondering from whence the warning came. It was quite
certain that it must have proceeded either from Miss Cordsen or
Madeleine, for the windows of both rooms were open. If it were
Madeleine, the plot had become so involved that she did not dare to
think of it. If it were Miss Cordsen, it was bad enough, but still not
so desperate. From the sound she guessed that it must be a glass of
water, or something of that sort, and as soon as day began to dawn she
got up and left her room in the hope of clearing up the mystery.
Madeleine sat up as she heard Fanny come in.

"I beg pardon, Madeleine. I came to see if you could give me a glass of
water. There is a spider in our water-bottle."

She drew back the curtains, and there, sure enough, stood the
water-bottle with its glass. Fanny gave a sigh of relief, and left
Madeleine still gazing in astonishment. It was more than she could
understand.

CHAPTER XIV.

The autumn rains had now begun in earnest. Day after day the water came
down in streams, and at night it could be heard pattering on the
window-panes, and dripping from the eaves, every time one woke.

At first the rain came for a long time from the south-west, but there
was nothing wonderful in that, for the south-west is a rainy quarter.
But when it rained for a whole fortnight with a north wind, people who
were weatherwise maintained that if it once began to rain steadily from
the north, there would be no end to it.

One morning the wind ceased, but the clouds lay heavy and lowering
overhead; and now the weatherwise averred, with much shaking of heads,
that it would be worse than ever. The morning, however, actually passed
without rain, and the air grew lighter and clearer; but just as the
aspect began to improve, the drizzle again commenced.

The rain now set in with renewed vigour, with all its pleasing varieties
of shower and deluge; but the worst form it took was when it poured
persistently and unmercifully from morning to night.

The new moons came in with rain and went out with rain,