inced him that the attempt would be a failure,
and with an amused expression he leisurely followed her.

Sylvia had not walked five minutes before she was satisfied that it
_was_ too far; but having rebelled, she would not own herself in the
wrong, and being perverse, insisted upon carrying her point, though she
walked all night. On she went over walls, under rails, across brooks,
along the furrows of more than one ploughed field, and in among the
rustling corn, that turned its broad leaves to the sun, always in
advance of her companion, who followed with exemplary submission, but
also with a satirical smile, that spurred her on as no other
demonstration could have done. Six o'clock sounded from the church
behind the hill; still the wood seemed to recede as she pursued, still
close behind her came the steady footfalls, with no sound of weariness
in them, and still Sylvia kept on, till, breathless, but successful, she
reached the object of her search.

Keeping to the windward of the smoke, she gained a rocky spot still warm
and blackened by the late passage of the flames, and pausing there,
forgot her own pranks in watching those which the fire played before
her eyes. Many acres were burning, the air was full of the rush and roar
of the victorious element, the crash of trees that fell before it, and
the shouts of men who fought it unavailingly.

"Ah, this is grand! I wish Mark and Mr. Moor were here. Aren't you glad
you came, sir?"

Sylvia glanced up at her companion, as he stood regarding the scene with
the intent, alert expression one often sees in a fine hound when he
scents danger in the air. But Warwick did not answer, for as she spoke a
long, sharp cry of human suffering rose above the tumult, terribly
distinct and full of ominous suggestion.

"Someone was killed when that tree fell! Stay here till I come back;"
and Adam strode away into the wood as if his place were where the peril
lay.

For ten minutes Sylvia waited, pale and anxious; then her patience gave
out, and saying to herself, "I can go where he does, and women are
always more helpful than men at such times," she followed in the
direction whence came the fitful sound of voices. The ground was hot
underneath her feet, red eyes winked at her from the blackened sod, and
fiery tongues darted up here and there, as if the flames were lurking
still, ready for another outbreak. Intent upon her charitable errand,
and excited by the novel scene, she pushed r