room with lurid flame.

Halcyone shivered. It was the one aspect of Nature with which she was
out of harmony. When thunder rolled and lightning quivered, her vitality
seemed to desert her and she experienced what in her came nearest to
fear.

"Ah! someone has angered God greatly," she whispered aloud; and then she
carried the head to the secret door, knowing full well she would be
unwatched in her entry there--on such a day, with thunder pealing, not a
servant would have ventured into the long gallery.

Another and louder rumble reached her with muffled sound, as she made
her way in the dark underground, and as she came to the place where
there was the contrived gleam of light and outer air, the lightning
turned the narrow space into a green dusk.

Halcyone was trembling all over, and when she had put her precious
bundle safely into the bag with the rest of her simple preparations, she
laid it on the iron-bound box which had never been stirred, all ready
for her to lift up and take with her in the morning. Then she ran back,
cold and pale, and hastily sought Priscilla in her own room, and talked
long to her of old days, glad indeed to hear a human voice, until
presently the rain began to pour in torrents and the storm cried itself
out.

But with each crash before this came her heart gave a bound, as if in
pain. And a wild longing grew in her for the morrow and safety in her
lover's arms.

And he--alas! that hapless lover!--was lying there in the haw-haw, with
broken ankle and damaged head, half recovering consciousness in the
pouring rain, but unable to stir or climb from his low bed, or even to
cry aloud enough to make anyone hear him. And so at last the night came,
and the pure moonlight, and when her usual evening duties were over with
her aunts, Halcyone was free to go to bed.

She opened her window wide, but she did not seek to wander in the wet
park. John would not be there, and she must rest, so as to be fair for
him when tomorrow they should start on life's sweet journey--together.

But her heart was not quiet. All her prayers and pure thoughts seemed to
bring no peace, and even when, after a while, she fell into a sleep, it
was still troubled.

And thus the day dawned that was to have seen her wedding!

She told herself that the dull, sullen oppression she awoke with was the
result of the storm in the night, and with firm determination she
banished all she could of heaviness, and got through her usu