airs said
suddenly--

"We can't waste time like this! These men have lost their heads.
Grantly, you and I are strongest. We must get down and break in the
door. Come to the back of the house; there must surely be some way of
dropping down on an out-house."

"The blue room--over the larder. It's a deep drop, but safe enough for
fellows like you. I'll show you!" cried father promptly, and led the
way forward. It was no time to protest or to make polite speeches.
Something had to be done, and done at once. I watched them go and
envied them. It's hardest of all to be a woman and have to wait. I
would rather a hundred times have faced that drop than have sat in that
room listening to the noise, seeing Vere growing whiter and whiter, and
mother's face grow old and lined. If the worst came to the worst, I
would go and sit beside them, but for the present I held Annie's hand
and stroked it, and wondered if it could be true that life was really
going to end like this. Only nineteen, and just home from school--it
seemed so young to die! I remembered Will, and wondered if he would be
sorry, and if he and Rachel would talk of me when they were married.
Then I forgot everything, and lust shut my eyes and prayed, prayed,
prayed.

A great shout of relief and joy! Father and Mr Nash were leaning out
of the window waving their hands to the other men, who were carrying the
ladders across the lawn. We all sobbed with relief, for it seemed as if
escape must be easy now, but the ladders were not long enough, they had
to be tied together, and by this time the flames were leaping out of the
window below; we could see the light dancing up and down, and it seemed
a dreadful prospect to have to pass them on an open ladder. I looked at
mother--mother who never walked a step outside the grounds, who was
waited upon hand and foot, and spent half her time lying on the sofa.
It seemed impossible that she could attempt such a feat!

The moment the ladder was fixed father turned round and called to us to
come forward, but we all hung back silent and trembling. Then he
stamped his foot, and his eyes flashed.

"Are you going to turn cowards and risk other lives besides your own?
There is not a moment to lose. Every moment will make it more
formidable. Mary, you are a brave girl! Will you lead the way?"

She walked forward without a word. I did admire her! Father lifted her
up; a pair of arms were thrust out to receive her from