Next morning, Lady Bridget was better and her mind clearer.

There had been no return of fever, and, though the physical weakness was great and her temperature--had she taken it--would have been found a good deal below normal, her fierce determination not to remain helpless any longer gave her strength to get up and dress.

She was not able, however, to do anything but lie in a half-alive condition in the hammock at the end of the veranda.

All night the fire had blazed, but more fitfully, and this morning the lurid glare had died down.

Only a murky haze, faintly red here and there, spread over the north-eastern sky.