throat; for, agitated as I was, both by my errand and my sudden
encounter with one I had dreamed about for weeks, he seemed to be much
more so, though by other reasons--by far other reasons--than myself. He
was so moved--was it by the appearance of a strange young girl on his
doorstep, or was it at something in my face or manner, or some-thing in
his thoughts to which that face or manner gave a shock?--that my petty
fears for the havoc going on above seemed to pale into insignificance
before the emotions called up by my presence. Confronting me with
dilating eyes, he faltered slowly back till his natural instincts of
courtesy recalled him to himself, and he bowed, when I found courage to
cry:

"Fire! Your house is on fire! Up there, overhead!"

The sound which left his lips as these words slipped from mine struck
me speechless again. Appalling as the cry "Fire!" is at all times and to
all men, it roused in this man at this time something beyond anything my
girlish soul had ever imagined of terror or dismay. So intense were the
feelings I saw aroused in him that I expected to see him rush into the
open air with loud cries for help. But instead of that, he pushed the
door to behind me, and locking me in, said, in a strange and hoarsened
tone?

"Don't call out, don't make any sound or outcry, and above all, don't
let any one in; I will fight the flames alone!" and seizing a lamp from
the study-table, he dashed from me towards a staircase I could faintly
see in the distance. But half-way down the hall he looked back at me,
and again I saw that look on his face which had greeted my unexpected
appearance in the doorway.

Alas! it was a thrilling look--a look which no girl could sustain
without emotion; and spellbound under it, I stood in a maze, alone and
in utter darkness, not knowing whether to unlock the door and escape or
to stand still and wait for his reappearance, as he evidently expected
me to do.

Meanwhile, the alarm had spread, and more than one cry arose from the
houses in the rear. I could hear feet running over the walks without,
and finally a knock on the door I was leaning against, followed by the
cry:

"Let us in! Fire! fire!"

But I neither moved nor answered. I was afraid to be found there,
crouching alone in a bachelor's residence, but I was equally afraid of
disobeying him, for his voice had been very imperious when he commanded
me not to let any one in; and I was too young to brave such a natur