ing by the window, had no
strength left for further effort. The heat of the flames and the smoke
were overpowering. She had kept up by sheer effort of will until her
friend was in safety; now the world seemed suddenly to be turning round
her. There was a rushing in her ears, and her eyes grew dim. Through a
thick haze she saw the crowd beckoning to her, and one man, more daring
than the rest, begin to scale the rope, in the hope of rescuing her. He
could never reach her in time, she thought vaguely; and she was too
faint and giddy to let herself down hand over hand, as they were calling
to her to do. She almost wished they would leave her alone; her work was
done, Mabel was safe, and that was all she cared.

Why was the crowd suddenly turning round and hurrahing? The people were
breaking up in wild confusion, and parting so as to leave a wide path in
their midst. There were sounds of galloping horses and grinding wheels.
What did it all mean? Aldred's fading senses just grasped a vision of
men in bright helmets, of a great ladder that seemed to advance faster
than the wind, and of a tongue of flame that shot out from the room
behind and enveloped her, and the fact that a strong arm at the same
instant clutched her and snatched her away; then she went
down--down--down, and everything sank into blank nothingness.

But the crowd below cried: "Thank God! The Fire Brigade came in the nick
of time!"

CHAPTER XVII

Loss and Gain

Owing to the strenuous efforts of the Brigade, the fire at the Grange
was at last got under control; and though the main staircase was gone,
and the west wing a wreck, all the eastern portion of the building was
saved.

The new day showed a scene of great desolation--blackened walls, and
staring, empty windows; garden and lawn trodden into a waste by
trampling feet, and littered with broken glass, pieces of timber, and
the remains of charred furniture; the greenhouse smashed to atoms; the
sundial knocked over; and both pergola and rosery in ruins. The
lecture-hall, one classroom, and the bedrooms that lay over them were
untouched--a most fortunate circumstance, as they provided a shelter for
the girls, who were all clad in dressing-gowns and bedroom slippers. As
soon as they were assured of the safety of that part of the house, the
teachers marshalled the school there, access being easily gained through
a French window. This wing, a later addition to the Grange, possessed a
separate st