y collapsed in a limp heap in Nealie's arms.

Quickly they lifted him out into the warmth of the corridor, and then
Nealie started chafing his cold hands and face, while Mr. Bent replaced
the butter boxes on the shelves, then, turning off the electric light,
came out and locked the door behind him.

"Now I should like to know what monkey trick you were up to when you
went and got yourself locked in a place like that?" he said in an angry
tone as he bent over poor Rumple, unwinding a lot of sacking from the
boy's shoulders, and slapping him vigorously to quicken circulation.

"Oh, you will hurt him dreadfully if you beat him like that, and I am
quite sure that he did not mean to do wrong!" burst out Nealie in
red-hot indignation, as she pushed away those vigorously slapping hands,
and gathered Rumple's cold, limp figure into a warm embrace.

"Bless you, Missy, I was not doing it to hurt him, only to make his
blood flow quicker, and save him a bit of misery later on. If he has
been in mischief, he has had to pay quite dearly enough for it, without
any more punishment. It is lucky for him that the freezing plant is out
of order to-day, and we have only been able to keep the place just down
to freezing-point. If it had been as cold as it is sometimes, it might
have been too late to save him, poor fellow," said Mr. Bent, pushing
Nealie gently aside, and starting on his slapping with more vigour than
before.

"I wasn't in mischief; I only bolted in there because the door was open,
and I wanted to get clear of Miss Clarke, who was being shown round the
storerooms by one of the officers," said Rumple feebly. "She always will
kiss me, don't you know, and I just can't stand it. I was crouching
behind a case of things at the farther end, when to my horror the light
went out, and a minute later, before I could yell, the door slammed. I
did yell then for all that I was worth, but I could not make anyone
hear, and it was so long before I could grope my way to the door, for I
was at the farther end, you see, and I turned silly with funk at the
first."

"I don't wonder at that, poor darling!" murmured Nealie, lavishing
endearments on him, which he accepted all in good part, although he had
been so hotly resentful of Miss Clarke's openly expressed affection. She
was the daughter of the fat old lady, and he disliked the pair of them
so heartily that his one desire was to put as much distance as possible
between them and himself at