o men would go out on the roof every night to watch a
Roman candle, as you call it, come down. Unless, of course, they're
lunatics."

"No," said Godfrey, "I don't believe they're lunatics--at least, not
both of them. I have a sort of theory about it; but it's a pretty thin
one, and I want you to do a little investigating on your own account
before I tell you what it is. It's time we went to bed. Don't get up
in the morning till you're ready to. Probably I'll not see you till
night; I have some work to do that will take me off early. But Mrs.
Hargis will make you comfortable, and I'll be back in time to join you
in another look at the Roman candle!"

He uttered the last words jestingly, but I could see that the jest was
a surface one, and that, at heart, he was deeply serious. Evidently,
the strange star had impressed him even more than it had me--though
perhaps in a different manner.

I found that it had impressed me deeply enough, for I dreamed about it
that night--dreamed, and woke, only to fall asleep and dream and wake
again. I do not remember that I saw any more in the dream than I had
seen with my waking eyes, but each time I awoke trembling with
apprehension and bathed in perspiration. As I lay there the second
time, staring up into the darkness and telling myself I was a fool,
there came a sudden rush of wind among the trees outside; then a vivid
flash of lightning and an instant rending crash of thunder, and then a
steady downpour of rain. I could guess how the gasping city welcomed
it, and I lay for a long time listening to it, as it dripped from the
leaves and beat against the house. A delightful coolness filled the
room, an odour fresh and clean; and when, at last, with nerves
quieted, I fell asleep again, it was not to awaken until the sun was
bright against my curtains.

CHAPTER III

THE DRAMA IN THE GARDEN

I glanced at my watch, as soon as I was out of bed, and saw that it
was after ten o'clock. All the sleep I had lost during the hot nights
of the previous week had been crowded into the last nine hours; I felt
like a new man, and when, half an hour later, I ran downstairs, it was
with such an appetite for breakfast as I had not known for a long
time.

There was no one in the hall, and I stepped out through the open door
to the porch beyond, and stood looking about me. The house was built
in the midst of a grove of beautiful old trees, some distance back
from the road, of which I could