to this hour?"

"I've been frightened, daddy. I lay awake on purpose, at first,
because you promised to come and kiss me when you came home after the
meeting."

"Oh, I shan't promise that any more if it keeps you awake. Well!"

"And then I heard Mr. Paul's voice down in the hall, and I thought he
said something about fire. But Nurse said I was silly, and must go to
sleep; but I couldn't till I knew you were safe."

"What from, little one?"

"The fire," said Kitty, with a suppressed sob. "I thought you might be
burned, and nobody would tell me."

"Well, that was very silly, certainly," said her father, with a little
laugh that had a singularly reassuring effect upon Kitty.

"And I tried to think of the three men with long names that the fire
did not hurt; but it did not do me a bit of good, daddy."

"Because you forgot about the fourth one who stood by them, even in the
fire, whose form was like the Son of God," said the rector, gently.
"And He was close by you, Kitty, although you were so frightened--by
you, and me too. There! think of that and go to sleep now."

But though Mr. Curzon spoke so cheerfully, there were tears in his eyes
as he kissed his little daughter and tucked her into bed with strong,
gentle hands.

"Poor little soul! She's bound to suffer, with her crippled body and
over-sensitive brain," he thought.

The next morning at breakfast he told Kitty the story of the previous
evening, quite simply, without any terrifying details.

"I should think Mr. Paul is very brave--almost as brave as you are,
daddy," said Kitty, whose terror seemed to have vanished into thin air
with the light of day.

"Much braver, I expect," agreed her father, good-humouredly. "But I
wonder why you think so!"

"Oh, Sally has told me lots of things. How he killed a mad dog, and
nursed a man with smallpox, and knocked down a costermonger for kicking
his pony. That was brave, wasn't it?" said Kitty, who clearly regarded
the last item as the crowning act of bravery.

"Well, it was speedy punishment, certainly," answered her father,
laughing. "But since you admire bravery so much, you'll have to learn
a little more about it yourself; and not lie awake every time I'm kept
out late at night. A clergyman's work is like a doctor's--never done,
you know."

The word doctor gave Kitty an opportunity of rapidly changing the
subject.

"What's a stroke, father? What's good for it?"

"A 'stroke' generally means pa