It was as if they had suddenly been caught by a seething torrent.

Again the lightning flared, dancing a quivering, zigzag measure across the verandah in which she sat, and the thunder burst overhead, numbing the senses.
By that awful leaping glare Sylvia saw her companion.

He was stooping over her.

He spoke; but she could not hear a word he uttered.
Then again his arms were about her and he lifted her.

She yielded herself to him with the confidence of a child, and he carried her into his home while the glancing lightning showed the way.
The noise within the house was less overwhelming.