heart-sick with his intense longing
for the arrival of help from Longville, as he watched the progress of
the fire; but at last, after what appeared ages of waiting, they heard a
shout in the distance, and saw a little band of horsemen galloping up to
the burning house.

'They are come from Longville, uncle,' cried Miss Anne. 'You must open
now; there is not a moment to spare. The fire is gaining upon us fast.'

He had seen their approach himself, and now he opened the doors, and
gave the keys to Miss Anne. He had collected all his papers and notes in
one large bundle, which he had clasped in his arms; and as soon as the
crowd swept in through the open doors, he cried aloud to the constable
from Longville to come and guard him. There was very little time for
saving anything out of the house, for before long the flames gathered
such volume and strength as to drive every one out before them; and as
Stephen stood beside the miserable old man, who was shivering in the
bitter night wind, he beheld his dwelling destroyed as suddenly and
entirely as the hut at Fern's Hollow had been.

CHAPTER XX.

STEPHEN'S TESTIMONY.

Mr. Wyley would not stir from the place where he could gaze upon his old
home burning to the ground. He stood rooted to the spot, like one
fascinated and enchained by a power he could not resist, grasping his
precious bundle to his breast, and clinging firmly to the arm of the
Longville doctor, who had been one of those who hastened to his rescue.
Now and then he broke out into a deep cry, which he did not seem to hear
himself; but even the grey dawn of the morning, brightening over the
rounded outlines of the mountains, did not awaken him from his trance of
terror and bewilderment. Miss Anne kept near to him all night, and
Stephen lingered about her, making a seat for her upon the grass, and
taking care that Martha also should be at hand to wait upon her. There
was a great buzzing of people about them, hurrying to and fro; and every
now and then they heard different conjectures as to how the fire began.
But it was not, generally known that the constables from Longville and
Botfield had contrived to arrest Black Thompson and Davies in the midst
of the confusion, and had quietly taken them off to the jail at
Longville. When the daylight grew strong, it shone upon a smouldering
mass of ruins, and heaps of broken furniture piled upon the down-trodden
grass. The master had grown aged in that one night,