The voice sang to him like an angel voice singing to Ishmael in the wilderness.
The song came to an end, but after a moment Jacqueline sang again, sonorous and passionate words of a lover to his mistress.

It was not now the Cavalier hymning of constancy; it was the Elizabethan breathing passion, and his cry was the more potent.
"The thirst that from the soul doth rise Doth ask a drink divine"-- Blinding lightning, followed by a tremendous crash, startled the singer from her harp and brought all in the room to their feet.

"That struck!" exclaimed the Colonel.

"Look out, Fairfax, and see if 't was the stables! I hear the dogs howling.
"'Twas the big pine by the gate, I think, sir," answered Fairfax Cary, half in and half out of the window.

"Gad! it is black!" "You two cannot go home to-night," cried Colonel Churchill, with satisfaction.