“Nell shook her head to clear the tears from her eyes, her hands holding fast to the reins. ‘Mother wished us to carry her tub to the attic, and Susannah protested on account of the storm.’ A sob strangled in Nell’s throat. ‘But then Mother insisted. She was frightful in her panic for the tub—and I do not know what I did anymore, Doctor. I grabbed the thing and dragged it up the stairs and called to Susannah to bring the water for a bath.’

“‘With this storm?’ Dr. Bates could not keep the dismay from his voice.

“Nell nodded grimly. ‘I could not bear it, Doctor. I followed my mother’s orders, and pushed the copper tub directly beneath the highest peak in the roof.’ She sobbed again. ‘And then, Doctor, I came for you.’

“Thunder crashed about their heads. Nell stifled a moan and whipped the horse with a fury, though they could see the white of the house appearing through the trees at the end of the road. But now the wind had shifted again and the smell of smoke and the ruffling sound of a great fire assaulted them upon the road. The horse reared up at the smell, nearly throwing them from the cart; never had the doctor seen a woman so intent and so terribly calm, for she handled the horse and compelled it forward again, nudging it and gentling it all at once. So, more slowly they drew closer to the house, where it seemed the storm had concentrated its full fury.

“There was a drop of wind suddenly, as though the world rushed away before turning to deliver one last mighty smack—and just as the doctor and Nell Grange appeared in sight of the House, the first great towering flame shot straight up through the roof and into the sky. Nell screamed and threw herself down from the cart, running up the lawn. But another flame burst from the third-story windows, and the woman was pushed back from the house by the wave of heat.

“‘Susannah!’ Nell shouted. ‘Susannah!’ The roar of the wind and fire was her only answer. And she stared upon the ghastly spectacle of her mother’s and her sister’s bier, raging above her head like one of the Furies, the flames reaching out through the holes in the roof in determined bursts toward the sky.

“Behind him, the doctor heard the church bells ringing.

“‘Thank God!’ he said. ‘The town’s alerted!’

“Nell turned hollow eyes on him.

“‘What does it matter?’ she cried. ‘Everything will be gone if they are.’

“The spine of the roof cracked suddenly, and one of the chimneys fell into the open mouth of the burning story, while the other half of the roof swayed in the gust of the fire, slowly dancing above its end.