“That is what they all say of this fire.  It travels with such an awful rapidity, and will suddenly pounce like a live thing upon some building hitherto unharmed, and in an incredibly short time will have licked it up, if one may so speak, leaving nothing but a mass of smouldering ashes behind.”

“I know how it leaps,” spoke Dinah, with a little shiver.  “I cannot think even now how I came to be saved.”

“It was our good neighbour, the Master Builder, who saved thee at risk of his life,” answered Rachel with a little sob in her voice.  “It was a terrible thing to see, Reuben tells me.  He and his father were holding the ladder, and Lord Desborough was bringing down his wife, when all in a moment the house seemed engulfed in one of those great flame waves of which all men are speaking, and they saw you totter and fall, as if it had engulfed thee in its deadly embrace.  Lord Desborough was not yet down the ladder, and knew nothing of thy peril, being engrossed in tender care for his wife.  Nobody could pass him, nor would the ladder bear a greater weight; but the next moment they saw that our good neighbour had somehow got another ladder against the wall and was rushing up it at a pace that seemed impossible.  Reuben ran to steady this ladder, for it was like to fall with the quaking and shaking.  And then, just before they heard the fall of the burning floors, he saw the Master Builder coming down bearing his burden safely; and once having both of you safe, there was not a moment to lose in making for the boat.  Already the alley was full of blinding flame and choking smoke, and it was all the men could do to carry the pair of you safe to Baynard’s Castle, where we took you all on board, but only two minutes before the fire began to blaze there also.  See, by looking back thou canst see how fiercely it is burning!

“God alone knows how and where it will be stayed.  They say it is spreading northward as furiously as it flies westward.  If the city walls stay not its course, all London will surely perish.”

Dinah was silent a while, looking seriously before her.  Then she lifted her face nearer to her sister’s and said: 

“Prithee, tell me, has our good friend and neighbour suffered hurt in thus adventuring his life for me?”

“He has not spoken of it, if so be that he has,” was the answer; “but the haste and peril and confusion were too great for many words.  We shall soon be at home now, and all who need it will receive tendance.  I fear me, dear sister, that thou canst not altogether have escaped the cruel embrace of the fire.  Thy garments were singed and charred:  but this cloak covers thee well and protects thee from the night air.”

Dinah moved herself, and felt no hurt.  She looked anxiously towards Lord Desborough, as though to ask how it went with his lady.  Fortunately the night was warm and calm, save for the light breeze that was enough to fan the fierce flames onward and onward.  By day the wind blew hard from the east; but it dropped at night, and this was no small boon to the many homeless creatures who had no roofs to shelter their heads.