The child's imagination was aflame.

This scarlet woman, this meteor from hell flashing before the delighted eyes of men, she, then, had bound Hubert for ever in her toils; no release for him now, no ransom to eternity.

No instant's doubt of the news came to Adela; in her eyes _imprimatur_ was the guarantee of truth.

She strove to picture the face which had drawn Hubert to his doom.

It must be lovely beyond compare.