ied the princess, hurrying out into the
Kleinwalde garden when first the alarm was given.

"It's in Lohm," cried someone else.

Anna watched the light in silence, her face paler than ordinary, her
hair blown about by the hot wind. The trees in the dark garden swayed
and creaked, the air was parching and full of dust, the light glared
brighter each moment. Surely it was very near? Surely it was nearer than
Stralsund? "It's in Lohm," cried someone with conviction; and Anna
turned and began to run.

"Where are you running to, Aunt Anna?" asked Letty, breathlessly
following her; for since the affair with Klutz she followed her aunt
about like a conscience-stricken dog.

"The fire-engine--there is one at the farm--it must go----"

They took each other's hands and ran in silence. Between the gusts of
wind they could hear the Lohm church-bells ringing; and almost
immediately the single Kleinwalde bell began to toll, to toll with a
forlorn, blood-curdling sound altogether different from its unmeaning
Sunday tinkle.

In front of her house Frau Dellwig stood, watching the sky. "It is
Lohm," she said to Anna as she came up panting.

"Yes--the fire-engine--is it ordered? Has it gone? No? Then at once--at
once----"

"_Jawohl, jawohl_," said Frau Dellwig with great calm, the philosophic
calm of him who contemplates calamities other than his own. She said
something to one of the maids, who were standing about in pleased and
excited groups laughing and whispering, and the girl shuffled off in her
clattering wooden shoes. "My husband is not here," she explained, "and
the men are at supper."

"Then they must leave their supper," cried Anna. "Go, go, you girls, and
tell them so--look how terrible it is getting----"

"Yes, it is a big fire. The girl I sent will tell them. They say it is
the _Schloss_."

"Oh, go yourself and tell the men--see, there is no sign of them--every
minute is priceless----"

"It is always a business with the engine. It has not been required,
thank God, for years. Mietze, go and hurry them."

The girl called Mietze went off at a trot. The others put their heads
together, looked at their young mistress, and whispered. A stable-boy
came to the pump and filled his pail. Everyone seemed composed, and yet
there was that bloody sky, and there was that insistent cry for help
from the anxious bell.

Anna could hardly bear it. What was happening down there to her kind
friend?

"It is the _Schloss_," said