ill be in all probability in her bedroom with her
head under the sheets," he said, chuckling.

"At all events I will send one of the maids to see," I said.

I rang the bell, and after giving a message to the maid who answered the
summons, I joined the Colonel at the window. He appeared to be very
pleased with the progress the storm was making.

"Thank goodness this will clear the air," he explained, as a reason for
his satisfaction. "It was so hot that I could take no lunch but a
mayonnaise, iced strawberries, and a glass of hock. Don't you think the
air is cooler already? I begin to feel quite an appetite for dinner. My
only fear is that, if the thunder has not turned everything sour, it
will have frightened my cook out of her senses, and there will be
nothing to appease my appetite."

The window at which we were standing faced towards Mannering's house.
There was a stretch of lawn outside and, beyond, a thicket of shrubs and
small trees between the grounds of the two residences. I was glancing in
the direction of these, when I thought I saw something white moving in
the shrubbery. I was about to say something to the Colonel when a crash
of thunder drowned the utterance. At the next flash of lightning, I
perceived that my eyes had not deceived me, and in an instant I jumped
to the conclusion that it was Evie who was out there in the storm.
Without a moment's hesitation I vaulted through the window and raced
across the lawn. The Colonel must have thought me mad.

It was something of a shock for me to find that I was right in my
conjecture. There, huddled up under the spreading branches of a cedar,
stood my darling, her eyes wide open, her cheeks blanched with terror.

"Why, Evie, dear heart! What is the matter?" I cried.

At the sound of my voice she started, and, with a little cry of delight,
she threw herself into my arms.

"I knew you would come--I knew you would come!" she sobbed hysterically.

The cedar under which she was standing was close to the hedge, and I
fancied, as she spoke, that I saw a figure move away from the other side
of the hedge. I could not verify my suspicion, for Evie needed all my
attention. She had fainted. Catching her up, I bore her across the lawn
to the house.

It was some time before she came to herself, and then, at her own
request, I left her with her maid and returned to the Colonel. Needless
to say I was very much worried in my mind. Why Evie should have been
sheltering in