l me all about it!" he said.

She rushed breathlessly through all the details of her adventure on the
turret roof. Adam listened attentively, helping her all he could, and
not embarrassing her by any questioning. His thoughtful silence was a
great help to her, for it allowed her to collect and organise her
thoughts.

"I must go and see Caswall to-morrow, to hear what he has to say on the
subject."

"But, dear, for my sake, don't have any quarrel with Mr. Caswall. I have
had too much trial and pain lately to wish it increased by any anxiety
regarding you."

"You shall not, dear--if I can help it--please God," he said solemnly,
and he kissed her.

Then, in order to keep her interested so that she might forget the fears
and anxieties that had disturbed her, he began to talk over the details
of her adventure, making shrewd comments which attracted and held her
attention. Presently, _inter alia_, he said:

"That's a dangerous game Caswall is up to. It seems to me that that
young man--though he doesn't appear to know it--is riding for a fall!"

"How, dear? I don't understand."

"Kite flying on a night like this from a place like the tower of Castra
Regis is, to say the least of it, dangerous. It is not merely courting
death or other accident from lightning, but it is bringing the lightning
into where he lives. Every cloud that is blowing up here--and they all
make for the highest point--is bound to develop into a flash of
lightning. That kite is up in the air and is bound to attract the
lightning. Its cord makes a road for it on which to travel to earth.
When it does come, it will strike the top of the tower with a weight a
hundred times greater than a whole park of artillery, and will knock
Castra Regis into pieces. Where it will go after that, no one can tell.
If there should be any metal by which it can travel, such will not only
point the road, but be the road itself."

"Would it be dangerous to be out in the open air when such a thing is
taking place?" she asked.

"No, little woman. It would be the safest possible place--so long as one
was not in the line of the electric current."

"Then, do let us go outside. I don't want to run into any foolish
danger--or, far more, to ask you to do so. But surely if the open is
safest, that is the place for us."

Without another word, she put on again the cloak she had thrown off, and
a small, tight-fitting cap. Adam too put on his cap, and, after seeing