our
rapid excursion down some two-and-thirty couple, were "brought up,"
startled and dismayed, by a piercing scream from at least that number
of female voices, all raised at the same instant.

"Fire! fire!" exclaimed the tall housemaid at my elbow.

"Save me! save me!" shrieked the fat housekeeper, plumping into Frank
Lovell's arms, and well-nigh bringing him to the ground, in which case
she _must_ have crushed him.

"Murder! murder!" shouted my idiot of a maid, Gertrude, rushing
frantically for the doorway, followed by Sir Guy, who was swearing, I
am sorry to say, most fearfully.

"Stand still, fools!" I heard Lady Scapegrace exclaim in her deep
tones, "and let nobody open the door!"

By this time there was a rush of all the women towards the door; and
as the centre of the room was cleared, I saw what had happened. The
muslin transparency had caught fire--a large fragment of it was even
now blazing on the floor, and the consequences amongst all those light
floating dresses and terrified women might have been indeed awful. For
an instant everybody seemed paralyzed--everybody but Cousin John;
during that instant he had flung off his coat, and kneeling upon it,
extinguished the flames. They were still blazing over his head: with a
desperate bound he tore down the ill-fated transparency; regardless of
singed hair and blistered hands, he clasped and pressed it, and
stamped upon it, and smothered it. Ere one could have counted fifty
the danger was over and not a vestige of the fire remained. How
handsome he looked with his brave face lighted up and his eyes
sparkling with excitement! Nobody could say John wanted expression of
countenance now. The next moment he was quietly apologizing in his
usual tone to Lady Scapegrace for "spoiling her beautiful
transparency," and parrying her thanks and encomiums on his courage
and presence of mind with an assurance that he "only pulled it down
because he happened to be directly under it;" but he could not help
turning to me and saying,--

"Kate, I hope you were not much frightened."

The words were not much, but they were uttered in the old kind voice;
they rung in my ears all the evening, and I went to bed happier than I
ever thought I could have been after such a day.

CHAPTER XXI.

The Sunday at Scamperley, I am sorry to say, was hardly observed with
that degree of respect and strictness which is due to the one sacred
day of the week. Very few people went to morni