uld; but they were beaten back by the smoke which came in
volumes down the turret staircase and by the flames which now began to
shoot up here and there against the darkness of the night. There was
nothing for it but to safeguard the main building. The wind was
setting towards it from the tower, and a party of men were up on the
roof treading out burning sparks and playing water where slates were
hottest or ashes might burst into flames.

Mrs. Ogilvie stood on the terrace in her magnificent purple gown, her
red hair with flashing diamonds in it, and her long-handled glasses
held up to her near-sighted eyes.

'So that goes!' she said, shrugging her shoulders. 'Well, it will give
me a good deal of trouble. Or is it fate, I wonder?'

Peter was directing a body of men to play water on the bridge; garden
and stable hoses were turned full upon it by relays of helpers, and
some long ladders were placed against the windows to see if it were
possible in that way to effect an entrance and save some of the
valuables in the room. The guests--women in light ball dresses and
bare shoulders, and men in evening clothes--had surged out on to the
terrace, and were watching with that curious mixture of fascination and
regret which comes to the eyes of those who see destruction going on
and know that they are powerless to prevent it. Every ear was strained
to catch the first sound of the fire-engine on the road from Sedgwick,
and some twenty or thirty couples, more impatient than the rest, had
run to a distant knoll, from whence the road was visible, to peer
through the darkness and to see if anything was coming. The stars
shone serenely overhead, and the moon was turning the water in the
fountains to cascades of silver, while from turret and roof the volumes
of grey smoke belched forth, and the ineffectual fire appliances played
upon the house.

It was just then that what seemed almost like an apparition appeared
upon the bridge. A man, not above medium height, with a cloak hastily
thrown about his head to protect him from the smoke, dashed across the
bridge, was drenched by the fall of water, and entered the turret room.
People asked each other fearfully whose this strange figure could be.
Many, strangely enough, had not seen it; the sudden dash through the
smoke had not occupied a moment of time, and most eyes were directed
towards the roof of the building, while others were turned towards the
Sedgwick road. Those who had s