e and
unexpectedly in the thin soil of her mind, irresistibly taking
possession of her and shaping her anew. Many would call it God. Adelle
did not name the power.

This becoming another person was not especially pleasurable. It was
perplexing and tragic as now. But Adelle was beginning to realize very
dimly that she was not living for her own happiness, not even for the
happiness of her child, wholly. She did not know why she was living. But
she knew that life meant much more than the happiness of any one being
or of many beings. It was like this high wind from the mountains and the
deserts, rushing over the earth with a fierce, compelling
impulse--whither? Ah, that no one could say. One must bend before the
blast, but not yield to it altogether--not be scattered fruitless by its
careless hand. Adelle thus had come a long way from that girl who had
run off with Archie to Paris: she knew it. And having come so far, who
could say where she would finally end?... She pressed her body against
the strong wind and felt it wrap her about like the firm embrace of a
living being. The tempest calmed and strengthened her.

At last she went back to her room, undressed quickly, and got to bed.
The last conscious thought that came to her was a resolve to look into
her affairs herself at once and put an end to all the folly that she and
Archie had committed with her money--to guard what was left for the use
of her boy. For the rest, she should go on as she had begun, waiting
always for the convincing urge of her destiny, proving her way step by
step. She would not confide in any one what she knew about the lost
heirs of Clark's Field.

XLI

After a time Adelle became confusedly conscious of some disturbance
around her. She thought at first that it must be Archie noisily entering
the neighboring chamber. But soon she heard loud cries and sat upright,
listening. Then she became aware of a thick, suffocating atmosphere and
the acrid taste of smoke in her mouth. The electric light would not
respond to her touch. She knew what it meant--Fire! With one bound she
leaped from her bed and ran, just as she was in nightdress, for the hall
from which the large staircase led up to the upper story--the only
approach to her child's rooms from this end of the house. The staircase
was a bank of roaring flame and the hall itself was vividly streaked
with dashes of eating flame. She rushed chokingly straight for the
blazing staircase and wo