storm."
A fresh gust, worse than the first, shook the palace. The princess started up aghast.
"Oh, heavens, tell me that there is no danger!" she moaned; "I shall die of fright."
"There is no fear, madame. Versailles is built on terraces so as to defy the storm. If lightning fell it would only strike yonder chapel with its sharp roof, or the little tower which has turrets. You know that peaks attract the electric fluid and flat surfaces repel them."
He took her frozen yet palpitating hand.
Just then a vivid flash inundated the room with its violet and livid glare. She uttered a scream and repulsed her husband.
"Oh, you looked in the lurid gleam like a phantom, pale, headless and bleeding!"
"It is the mirage caused by the sulphur," said the
prince. "I will explain——"
But a deafening peal of thunder cut short the sentence of the phlegmatic prince lecturing the royal spouse.