le of the terrible nature of what was happening. She felt her
husband's arms round her; she knew he had come to save her from
danger; and her trust was so perfect and implicit that it left no
room in her heart for anxious fears. She closed her eyes like a
tired child, and laid her head upon his shoulder.

He was a strong man, and she had wasted in the fever to a mere
shadow, and was always small and slight. He carried her as easily
as though she had been an infant; and making straight for the open
window, he climbed out upon the ladder and went slowly and steadily
down it, whilst those below held it for him.

Dinah watched the descent with eager eyes, unheeding all else. She
never thought to look behind her. She had no idea that a mass of
flames had suddenly come rushing up the stairway behind her. She
was conscious of an overpowering heat and a rush of blinding smoke
that caused her to stagger back gasping for breath; but it was only
as she actually felt the hot breath of the flames upon her cheek,
and saw that the whole house had suddenly become involved in the
universal destruction, that she knew what had befallen her, and
that death was striving hard to clutch her and make her its prey.

With a short, sharp cry, she staggered towards the open window, but
the heat and the smoke made her dizzy. She fell against the frame,
and uttered a faint cry for help; and then it seemed to her that
the body of flame behind leaped upon her like a live thing. She was
conscious for a moment of making a fierce and desperate struggle,
and then she knew no more, for black darkness swallowed her up, and
her last moment of consciousness was spent in a prayer that the
Lord would be with her in death and receive her spirit into His
hands.

When next Dinah opened her eyes it was to find a cool wind blowing
on her face, and to feel an unwonted motion of the bed (as she
supposed it for a moment) on which she was lying. Everything was
bright as day about her, but everything seemed to be dyed the hue
of blood. The next moment sense and memory returned. She realized
that she was lying in the bottom of a boat, which men were rowing
with steady strokes. She saw Lord Desborough sitting in the stern,
only a few feet away, still clasping his wife in his arms. She knew
that her head was lying in somebody's lap, and the next moment she
heard a familiar voice saying:

"Ah! she is better now. She has opened her eyes!"

"Rachel!" exclaimed Dinah si