Chapters 17 and 18 Summary

After about a week, Adeline is well enough to leave her room and meet her new friends. La Luc tells Adeline he considers her his daughter, with all the rights of Clara, his biological daughter. Even as she is happy in her new surroundings, Adeline is still distressed by the trouble and punishment which she believes is in store for Theodore. One day the entire family takes a trip to the Glacier of Montanvert. On their way home, thunder from an approaching storm startles Clara's horse. A stranger grabs the horse's bridle, and although Clara is thrown to the ground, she is not badly hurt. The horse, however, dashes into the lake and is killed. The stranger's arm is jerked so badly by the horse that La Luc begs him to come home with them to recuperate. As they talk that...