hen he noticed that Noel
was gone. He followed her out into the Square, alive with faces faintly
luminous in the darkness, and found her against the garden railings.

"You must come back in, Nollie."

"Oh, no! Cyril has this every day."

He stood beside her; not loth, for excitement had begun to stir his
blood. They stayed there for some minutes, straining their eyes for
sight of anything save the little zagged splashes of bursting shrapnel,
while voices buzzed, and muttered: "Look! There! There! There it is!"

But the seers had eyes of greater faith than Pierson's, for he saw
nothing: He took her arm at last, and led her in. In the hall she broke
from him.

"Let's go up on the roof, Daddy!" and ran upstairs.

Again he followed, mounting by a ladder, through a trapdoor on to the
roof.

"It's splendid up here!" she cried.

He could see her eyes blazing, and thought: 'How my child does love
excitement--it's almost terrible!'

Over the wide, dark, star-strewn sky travelling searchlights, were
lighting up the few little clouds; the domes and spires rose from among
the spread-out roofs, all fine and ghostly. The guns had ceased firing,
as though puzzled. One distant bang rumbled out.

"A bomb! Oh! If we could only get one of the Zeps!"

A furious outburst of firing followed, lasting perhaps a minute, then
ceased as if by magic. They saw two searchlights converge and meet right
overhead.

"It's above us!" murmured Noel.

Pierson put his arm round her waist. 'She feels no fear!' he thought.
The search-lights switched apart; and suddenly, from far away, came a
confusion of weird sounds.

"What is it? They're cheering. Oh! Daddy, look!" There in the heavens,
towards the east, hung a dull red thing, lengthening as they gazed.

"They've got it. It's on fire! Hurrah!"

Through the dark firmament that fiery orange shape began canting
downward; and the cheering swelled in a savage frenzy of sound. And
Pierson's arm tightened on her waist.

"Thank God!" he muttered.

The bright oblong seemed to break and spread, tilted down below the
level of the roofs; and suddenly the heavens flared, as if some huge jug
of crimson light had been flung out on them. Something turned over in
Pierson's heart; he flung up his hand to his eyes.

"The poor men in it!" he said. "How terrible!"

Noel's voice answered, hard and pitiless:

"They needn't have come. They're murderers!"

Yes, they were murderers--but how terrible! And