"God have mercy on us!" exclaimed Ready, who was the first to recover
himself, and who now attempted to ascertain the injury which had been
done: "the lightning has struck us, and I fear that the house is on fire
somewhere."

"My wife--my children!" exclaimed Mr Seagrave; "are they all safe?"

"Yes, yes!" cried Mrs Seagrave, "all safe; Tommy has come to me; but
where is Juno? Juno!"

Juno answered not. William darted to the other side of the house, and
found Juno lying on her side, motionless.

"She is dead, father," cried William.

"Help me to carry her out of the house, Mr Seagrave," said Ready, who
had lifted up the poor girl; "she may be only stunned."

They carried Juno out of the house, and laid her on the ground; the rain
poured down in torrents.

Ready left them for a minute, to ascertain if the house was on fire; he
found that it had been in flames at the further corner, but the rain had
extinguished it. He then went back to Mr Seagrave and William, who
were with Juno.

"I will attend to the girl, sir," said Ready; "go you and Master William
into the house; Mrs Seagrave will be too much frightened if she is left
alone at such an awful time. See, sir! Juno is not dead--her chest
heaves--she will come to very soon; thank God for it!"

William and Mr Seagrave returned to the house; they found Mrs Seagrave
fainting with anxiety and fear. The information they brought, that Juno
was not killed by the lightning, did much to restore her. William
soothed little Albert, and Tommy in a few minutes was fast asleep again
in his father's arms. The storm now abated, and as the day began to
break, Ready appeared with Juno, who was sufficiently recovered to be
able to walk in with his support; she was put into her bed, and then
Ready and Mr Seagrave went to examine if further mischief had been
done. The lightning had come in at the further end of the house, at the
part where the fireplace was intended to have been made.

"We have been most mercifully preserved," said Mr Seagrave.

"Yes, sir, thanks be to God for all his goodness," replied Ready.

"I think we have a large roll of copper wire, Ready; have we not?" said
Mr Seagrave.

"Yes, sir, I was just thinking of it myself; we will have a
lightning-conductor up the first thing."

It was now broad daylight. Mrs Seagrave dressed herself and the
children, and as soon as she was ready, Mr Seagrave read such portions
of the Psalms as were appropriate,