She came haltingly, clinging with both hands to the rail of the veranda,
her white face staring upwards in terror and instinctive appeal. She was
like an insect dragging itself away from destruction, with drenched and
battered wings.

He saw her coming and stiffened. It was his vision returned to him, but
till she came within reach of him he was afraid to move. He stood
upright against the wall, every mad instinct of his blood fiercely awake
and clamouring.

The noise and wind increased. It swirled along the veranda. She seemed
afraid to quit her hold of the balustrade lest she should be swept away.
But still she drew nearer to the lighted window, and at last, with
desperate resolution, she tore herself free and sprang for shelter.

In that instant the man also sprang. He caught her in arms that almost
expected to clasp emptiness, arms that crushed in a savage ecstasy of
possession at the actual contact with a creature of flesh and blood. In
the same moment the lamp in the room behind him flared up and went out.

There arose a frightened crying from his breast. For a few moments she
fought like a mad thing for freedom. He felt her teeth set in his arm,
and laughed aloud. Then very suddenly her struggles ceased. He became
aware of a change in her. She gave her whole weight into his arms, and
lay palpitating against his heart.

By the awful glare of the lightning he found her face uplifted to his.
She was laughing, too, but in her eyes was such a passion of love as he
had never looked upon before. In that moment he knew that she was
his--wholly, completely, irrevocably his. And, stooping, he kissed the