Hardly had she gained the shelter of the house than the very heavens seemed to split asunder above her. She looked up aghast, and was almost blinded by a flash of lightning. There followed a torrential downpour of rain that hammered the sun-dried shingles of the roof until it sounded like a drum.
Nellie was just bestirring herself in the kitchen when Mary entered the house. In the confusion of the storm she was able to regain her room without attracting attention.
All day long the storm raged, the thunder rolling, now among the hills, now crashing above the nearer tree-tops and then far out at sea, while forked flashes of lightning crumpled giant trees, split great rocks, or flared across the grey vault of the sky to strike harmlessly in the tumbling waters of the ocean.
Donning rubb
