Just then the noise of some one running upstairs quickly made the
sisters look up from their work. Footsteps are very significant at
times, and these footsteps suggested haste and excitement.

Another moment, the door opened, and Katy dashed in, calling out,
"Papa!--Elsie, Clover, where's papa?"

"He went over the river to see that son of Mr. White's who broke his
leg. Why, what's the matter?" asked Clover.

"Is somebody hurt?" inquired Elsie, startled at Katy's agitated looks.

"No, not hurt, but poor Mrs. Ashe is in such trouble."

Mrs. Ashe, it should be explained, was a widow who had come to Burnet
some months previously, and had taken a pleasant house not far from the
Carrs'. She was a pretty, lady-like woman, with a particularly graceful,
appealing manner, and very fond of her one child, a little girl. Katy
and papa both took a fancy to her at once; and the families had grown
neighborly and intimate in a short time, as people occasionally do when
circumstances are favorable.

"I'll tell you all about it in a minute," went on Katy. "But first I
must find Alexander, and send him off to meet papa and beg him to hurry
home." She went to the head of the stairs as she spoke, and called
"Debby! Debby!" Debby answered. Katy gave her direction, and then came
back again to the room where the other two were sitting.

"Now," she said, speaking more collectedly, "I must explain as fast as I