n Arthur looked back.
The night was still quite dark, and the stars shone out in their myriads.
At last he slackened their pace.

'Now you can go more slowly,' he said.

Susie saw the smiling glance that he gave her. His eyes were full of
tenderness. He put his arm affectionately round her shoulders to support
her.

'I'm afraid you're quite exhausted, poor thing,' he said. 'I'm sorry to
have had to hustle you so much.'

'It doesn't matter at all.'

She leaned against him comfortably. With that protecting arm about her,
she felt capable of any fatigue. Dr Porhoet stopped.

'You must really let me roll myself a cigarette,' he said.

'You may do whatever you like,' answered Arthur.

There was a different ring in his voice now, and it was soft with a
good-humour that they had not heard in it for many months. He appeared
singularly relieved. Susie was ready to forget the terrible past and
give herself over to the happiness that seemed at last in store for her.
They began to saunter slowly on. And now they could take pleasure in the
exquisite night. The air was very suave, odorous with the heather that
was all about them, and there was an enchanting peace in that scene which
wonderfully soothed their weariness. It was dark still, but they knew the
dawn was at hand, and Susie rejoiced in the approaching day. In the east
the azure of the night began to thin away into pale amethyst, and the
trees seemed gradually to stand out from the darkness in a ghostly
beauty. Suddenly birds began to sing all around them in a splendid
chorus. From their feet a lark sprang up with a rustle of wings and,
mounting proudly upon the air, chanted blithe canticles to greet the
morning. They stood upon a little hill.

'Let us wait here and see the sun rise,' said Susie.

'As you will.'

They stood all three of them, and Susie took in deep, joyful breaths of
the sweet air of dawn. The whole land, spread at her feet, was clothed in
the purple dimness that heralds day, and she exulted in its beauty. But
she noticed that Arthur, unlike herself and Dr Porhoet, did not look
toward the east. His eyes were fixed steadily upon the place from which
they had come. What did he look for in the darkness of the west? She
turned round, and a cry broke from her lips, for the shadows there were
lurid with a deep red glow.

'It looks like a fire,' she said.

'It is. Skene is burning like tinder.'

And as he spoke it seemed that the roof fell in, for