"Any long ladders about? And the stablemen, where are they all?"

"Coachman with the Squire, the grooms gone off to the town for an hour
or two." Reuben shook his head sorrowfully.

George waited no longer. With a bound he darted up the stairs again,
and in a moment had reached the spot where the fire was fiercest.
Without hesitation he dashed on, watching his chance after a big gust
of smoke and flame had surged across the well. Through the fire he
rushed, protecting his face with his arms, and stumbling blindly on.
The worst was soon passed, and the next instant he had gained the top
of the staircase.

"Save her--_her_!" Mrs. Maynard cried piteously, "leave _me_, and see
to _her_, for mercy's sake!"

George caught the girl in his arms and prepared to make a dash down
the staircase. But he drew back in dismay. A big piece of the burning
banister below them fell with a crash and a shower of sparks to the
bottom of the well.

"It is impossible!" he cried. "Let us see what can be done from one of
the windows." And the three ran to the end of the corridor farthest
away from the fire. Into a room George dashed, and threw up the
window. It was Mary's playroom, and it was in this place that she and
her governess had been till now too much frightened by the flames and
smoke to make a dash for safety.

Alas! there was no way of escape. The height from the ground was too
great; to leap meant certain death. George gazed frantically down and