ce belonged to her son James
who was wrecked and drowned on the Norfolk coast, may have had something
to do with it.

With the aid of his son's arm and a stick old John managed to hobble to
the window.

"It is very bright. Why, Tommy," he exclaimed, with a start, "it's too
bright: the lighthouse must be on fire!"

At that moment, "Tommy's" wife, now "fat, fair, and _fifty_" (or
thereabouts), entered the room hurriedly, exclaiming, "Oh, Tom, what
_can_ be the matter with the lighthouse, I never saw it so bright
before?"

Tom, who had hastily placed his father in a chair, so that he could see
the Eddystone, seized his hat, and exclaiming, "I'll go and see, my
dear," ran out and proceeded to the shore.

"What's the matter?" cried Mrs Potter in a querulous voice, when little
Nora rushed from her side.

Nora, senior, went to her at once, and, bending down, said, in a musical
voice that retained much of its clearness and all its former sweetness:
"I fear that the lighthouse is on fire, grandma!"

Mrs Potter gazed straight before her with vacant solemnity, and Nora,
supposing that she had not heard, repeated the information.

Still Mrs Potter made no reply; but, after a few moments, she turned
her eyes on her daughter-in-law with owlish gravity, and said; "I knew
it! I said long ago to your father, my dear, I had a settled conviction
that that lighthouse would come to a bad end."

It did indeed appear as though old Martha's prophecy were about to come
true!

Out at the lighthouse Teddy Maroon, having finished his pipe, went up to
the lantern to trim the candles again. He had no sooner opened the
hatch of the lantern than a dense cloud of smoke burst out. He shouted
to his comrades, one of whom, Henry Hall, was old and not fit for much
violent exertion; the other, James Wilkie, was a young man, but a heavy
sleeper. They could not be roused as quickly as the occasion demanded.
Teddy ran to the store-room for a leathern bucket, but before he could
descend to the rock, fill it and re-ascend, the flames had got a firm
hold of the cupola. He dashed the water into the lantern just as his
horrified comrades appeared.

"Fetch bucketfulls as fast as ye can. Och, be smart, boys, if iver ye
was," he shouted, while perspiration streamed down his face. Pulling
off his coat, while his mates ran down for water, Teddy dashed wildly
into the lantern, and, holding the coat by its arms, laid about him
violently, but smoke a