first time revealed the true nature of his destination. For when
he moved on again it was to take the road along the bluff, and not
the one leading directly into town.

This meant a speedy passing by the lightning-struck house. He knew
this of course, and evidently shrunk from the ordeal, for once up
the hill and on the level stretch above, he resolutely forbore to
cast a glance at its dilapidated fence and decayed gate posts. Had
he not done this--had his eyes followed the long line of the path
leading from these toppling posts to the face of the ruin, he
would have been witness to a strange sight. For gleaming through
the demolished heart of it,--between the chimney on the one side
and the broken line of the gable on the other--could be seen the
half circle of the moon suddenly released from the clouds which
had hitherto enshrouded it. A weird sight, to be seen only when
all conditions favoured. It was to be seen here to-night; but the
judge's eye was bent another way, and he passed on, unnoting.

The ground was high along this bluff; almost fifty feet above the
level of the city upon, which he had just turned his back. Of
stony formation and much exposed to the elements, it had been
considered an undesirable site by builders, and not a house was to
be seen between the broken shell of the one he had just left, and
the long, low, brilliantly illuminated structure ahead, for which
he was evidently making. The sight of these lights and of the
trees by which the house was surrounded, suggested festival and
caused a qualm of indecision to momentarily disturb him in his
purpose. But this purpose was too strong, and the circumstances
too urgent for him to be deterred by anything less potent than a
stroke of lightning. He rather increased his pace than slackened