“‘Of hers,’ said the doctor.

“‘Humph,’ said his sister.

“‘Oh,’ said his wife.

“The fire popped.

“The next morning, several other calls kept the doctor from his promise to sit with Cassie Grange. After he had finished his dinner that afternoon, he saw the mercury had dropped, and as he stood in the window of his front room, he was of two minds about venturing forth to Grange House—whether to beat the storm or follow after.

“‘It looks dreadful, Morris.’

“‘Yes, the weathervane’s just turned to the northeast. I’m afraid the blow will be mighty.’

“There was no rain, but a terrible moaning wind had sprung up, and it banged open the front door, causing the two of them to start. As the doctor went to close it, he noted a dense cloud lowering over the harbor. The dinghies bobbed wildly at their moorings. He slammed the door to, though he felt the wind buckle the wood beneath his hand, as if a heart beat back through the board.

“The sky had so darkened around the house that suddenly they were cast deep into shadow, and Agatha called to Annie to come quick and light the candles in the front rooms. Still the doctor remained where he stood in the front hall, looking through the windows at the violet sky undercut by a menacing shadow seeming to advance from across the bay directly into the harbor. And, from where he stood, he made out the black roofline and two chimneys of Grange House above the trees at the edge of the water. He watched the roof, though for what, he did not know, but suddenly he felt he had been drawn to his post at the window, as if called there by some unseen voice.

“Just then, a crash of thunder split open the heavens directly overhead, the crack brimming over the thick sides of the clouds, repeating all the long way down the harbor. There was a preternatural burst of a sickly green, followed by the echoing crack of the companion thunder. Another crack came, this one louder than the first, and longer—as though two enemies waged battle overhead, the one shaking and snapping the very bones of his opponent loose.

“And then a blinding light sliced down through the center of Grange House’s roof. Not stopping to give word or explanation, the doctor grabbed his cloak from off the hook, flung open the door, and began walking fast as he could down the road to Grange House. There came another crack, a horrible sound.

“The trees above him bent and scraped and the wind still keened a high note in the air. He scurried forward, his heart racing, his eyes fixed on the distance. He had been walking nearly twenty minutes when he spied a cart and cart horse galloping down the road toward him, and the doctor saw Nell Grange whipping the creature to a furious pace, so fast that he worried she might not be capable of stopping. But she had seen the man and slowed to a canter, then a trot, and stopped before the doctor, panting with her horse, and bent to reach down a hand and pull the doctor up.