e fury of the storm was over. There was
nothing to do but wait with bated breath after each vivid flash of
lightning for the terrific crash that always followed, and listen to the
wind outside as it fought with the sturdy tree-tops. Now and then a limb
snapped in the fierce struggle, and fell to the ground with a loud
crackling noise.

"I hope there will be enough of a roof left over our heads to shelter
us," said Mrs. Sherman, as bricks from the chimney tops began rolling
down the roof and falling to the ground below with heavy thuds.

"We expected to start home about this time," Miss Allison was saying.
"We ordered the wagonettes to come back for us at ten o'clock, but it
looks now as if we are storm-bound for the night. Did you ever hear such
a downpour?"

"It's the clatter of the rain on the tin roof of the porch," answered
Mrs. Sherman, speaking at the top of her voice in order to be heard
above the deafening din of the rain and wind.

For nearly half an hour they sat waiting for the storm to pass. Several
games were proposed, but none of the children wanted to play. They
seemed to feel more comfortable when they were snuggled up close
against some grown person, or holding some elderly protecting hand. But
gradually the lightning grew fainter and fainter, and the thunder went
growling away in the distance, although the rain kept steadily on. Mrs.
Sherman called for some music in the drawing-room, and while Miss
Allison and Mrs. Cassidy played the liveliest duets they knew, the
children drifted out into the hall and over the house as they pleased.

Most of the older boys and girls sat on the stairs in groups of twos and
threes, while from the upper hall the scurry of feet, and the singsong
cry that London Bridge was falling down, showed what the little ones
were playing. It was after eleven o'clock when the wagonettes came
rumbling up to the door. The rain had stopped, and a few stars were
beginning to struggle through the clouds.

"How cold and damp it is!" exclaimed Mrs. Sherman, as she stepped out on
the front porch. "The thermometer must have fallen twenty degrees since
you came. You will all need wraps of some kind. Wait till I can get you
some shawls and things."

"No, indeed!" every one protested. "We will wrap up in our sheets again.
We do not need anything else."

There was a laughing scrimmage over the pile of sheets that had been
thrown hastily into one corner of the hall, when the party ran in o