"My dear Miss Tippet, I shall never, no never, get over it."
So said, and so undoubtedly thought, a thin little old lady with
remarkably bright eyes, and a sweet old face, as she sat sipping tea at
Miss Tippet's elbow.
It was in the drawing-room of Miss Deemas that she sat, and the Eagle
sat opposite to her.
"It was very dreadful," responded Miss Tippet with a sigh--"very."
"It was awful. I know I shall never get over it,--never," repeated the
little old lady, finishing her tea, and asking for another cup in the
calmest possible voice, with the sweetest possible smile.
"Oh yes, you will, Mrs Denman," said Miss Deemas snappishly.
"No, indeed, I won't," repeated Mrs Denman; "how can I? Just think of
the situation. Sitting in my chair in dishabille, when a man--a Man,
Miss Dee--"
"Well, I know what a _man_ is," said the Eagle bitterly; "why don't you
go on?"
"Burst himself through my bedroom-door," continued Mrs Denman, "with
lime and charcoal and brick-dust and water streaming down his face--
f-fo-olded me in his arms, bore me out into the street--the _street_!
Oh! I shall never, _never_ get over it; and so little, so _very_ little
clothing on me--"
"How much had you on?" asked Miss Deemas in a deep voice, the calmness
of which contrasted forcibly with Mrs Denman's excited tones.
"Really, Miss Deemas, I see no necessity for going into particulars. It
is sufficient to know that I was carried by a _man_ into the _street_ in
the face of some thousands of people, for I heard them cheering though I
saw them not. I know I shall never get over it--another cup, my love;
not _quite_ so much sugar--no, not if I were to live to the age of
Methusaleh."
"I don't wonder, indeed I don't," murmured the sympathetic Miss Tippet.
"I think, Julia dear, you are a little too hard on Mrs Denman. How
would _you_ like to have been carried out of a burning house in such a
way by a big rough man?"
"Oh, my dear," interposed Mrs Denman, "I did not say he was rough. Big
he certainly was, and strong, but I must do him the justice to say that
the man li--lif--oh me! lifted me up very tenderly, and carried me as
though I had been an infant and he my mother, through smoke and fire and
water, into the street, before the eyes of the--whole--oh, it's too
awful to think of!"
"Stuff!" ejaculated Miss Deemas, pecking a piece of cake out of her
fingers as she would, metaphorically of course, have pecked the eyes out
of the head of Frank Willders, or any other man. "Didn't you say he put
a blanket round you?"
"Of course, Miss Deemas; I should have died otherwise of pure shame."
"No, you wouldn't," retorted the Eagle. "You would probably have been
half suffocated and a good deal dirtied, and you might have been singed,
but you wouldn't have died; and what need you care now, for the people
saw nothing but a bundle. You might have been a bundle of old clothes
for all they knew or cared. All they wanted to see was the bravery, as
they call it, of the man; as if there were not hundreds upon hundreds of
women who would do the same thing if their muscles were strong enough,
and occasion served."
"But it _was_ a brave act, you know," said Miss Tippet timidly.
"I don't know that," retorted Miss Deemas, helping herself to more cake
with as much decision of manner as if she had been carrying it off by
force of arms from before the very muzzles of a masculine battery. "I
don't know that. He had to escape, you know, for his own life, and he
might as well bring a bundle along with him as not."
"Yes; but then," said Miss Tippet, "he first went up the--the thingumy,
you know."
"No, he didn't," retorted Miss Deemas smartly; "he was in the house at
the time, and only came down the `thingumy,' as you call it!"
It was a peculiarity of Miss Deemas's character, that she claimed the
right to be as rude as she chose to people in her own house, and rather
prided herself on this evidence of independence.
"In my opinion," said Mrs Denman, "his being in the burning house at
all of his own accord, was of itself evidence of courage. I think the
fireman is a brave young man."
Thus much Mrs Denman said with dignity to Miss Deemas. The remainder
of her speech she addressed to Miss Tippet.
"But, my dear, I feel that although I owe this young man a debt of
gratitude which I can never repay, I shall never be able to look my
preserver in the face. I _know_ that his mind will always revert, when
he sees me, to the fi--fig--the figure that he lifted out of that
easy-chair. But there is one thing I have resolved on," continued the
little old lady in more cheerful tones, as she asked for another cup of
tea, "and that is, to get a fireman to instruct me as to the best method
of saving my own life should fire again break out in my dwelling."
The Eagle gave a hysterical chuckle at this.
"I have already written to one who has been recommended to me as a
shrewd man, and he is coming to call on me this very evening at seven
o'clock."
Mrs Denman started, as if her own remark had recalled something, and
pulled out her watch.
"Why, it is almost half-past six!" she exclaimed, rising hastily.
"Excuse a hurried departure, Miss Deemas. Your society and sympathy"
(she looked pointedly at Miss Tippet here) "have been so agreeable that
I did not observe how time was flying. Good-bye, Miss Deemas. Good
evening, _dear_ Miss Tippet."
Miss Deemas bowed.
"Good-bye, my love," said Miss Tippet, bustling round her friend. "I'm
_so_ glad to have met you, and I hope you'll come and see me soon; 6
Poor-thing Lane, remember. Come whenever you please, dear Mrs Denman.
Yes, yes, time does indeed fly, as you say; or as my friend, Sir
Archibald What's-his-name used to remark, `Tempit fugus something
re-what's-'is-name.' _Good-bye_, dear Mrs Denman."
While the ladies were thus engaged, one whom the Eagle would have tossed
her beak at with supreme contempt was enjoying himself in the bosom of
his family. This was none other than Joe Corney himself, who, having
received a "stop" for a distant fire, had looked in on his wife to tell
her of the note he had received from Mrs Denman.
The family bosom resided in a small portion of a small house in the
small street where the fire-engine dwelt.
Joe had laid his helmet on the table, and, having flung himself into a
chair, seized his youngest child, a little girl, in his arms, raised her
high above his head and laughed in her face; at which the child chuckled
and crowed to the best of its ability.
Meanwhile his eldest son, Joe junior, immediately donned the helmet,
seized the poker, thrust the head of it into a bucket of water, and,
pointing the other end at a supposed fire, began to work an imaginary
hand-pump with all his might.
"It's goin' out, daddy," cried the urchin.
"Sure, he's a true chip o' the owld block," observed his mother, who was
preparing the evening meal of the family; "he's uncommon fond o' fire
an' wather."
"Molly, my dear," said the fireman, "I'd have ye kape a sharp eye on
that same chip, else his fondness for fire may lead to more wather than
ye'd wish for."
"I've bin thinkin' that same meself, honey," replied Mrs Corney,
placing a pile of buttered toast on the table. "Shure didn't I kitch
him puttin' a match to the straw bed the other day! Me only consolation
is that ivery wan in the house knows how to use the hand-pump. Ah,
then, ye won't believe it, Joe, but I catched the baby at it this
mornin', no later, an' she'd have got it to work, I do believe, av she
hadn't tumbled right over into the bucket, an' all but drownded herself.
But, you know, the station's not far off, if the house did git alight.
Shure ye might run the hose from the ingin to here without so much as
drawin' her out o' the shed. Now, then, Joe, tay's ready, so fall to."
Joe did fall to with the appetite of a man who knows what it is to toil
hard, late and early. Joe junior laid aside the helmet and poker, and
did his duty at the viands like the true son of a fireman--not to say an
Irishman--and for five minutes or so the family enjoyed themselves in
silence. After that Joe senior heaved a sigh, and said that it would be
about time for him to go and see the old lady.
"What can it be she wants?" asked Mrs Corney.
"Don't know," replied her husband. "All I know is that she's the old
lady as was bundled neck and crop out o' the first-floor windy o' the
house in Holborn by Frank Willders. She's a quare owld woman that.
She's got two houses, no less; wan over the coachmaker's shop--the shop
bein' her property--an' wan in Russell Square. They say she's rich
enough to line her coffin with goold an inch thick. Spakin' o' that,
Molly my dear, a quare thing happened to me the other night. It's what
ye call a coinsidence."
"What's that, Joe?"
"Well, t'ain't easy to explain, but it means two things happenin'
together in a most onlikely way--d'ye see?"
"No, I don't, Joe," replied Mrs Corney, helping herself to another
slice of toast.
"Well, it don't matter much," resumed Joe, "but this is what it was: Mr
Dale an' me was sittin', about two in the mornin', at the station fire
smokin' our pipes (for it was my turn on duty) an' chattin' away about
one thing an' another, when somehow we got upon tellin' our experiences,
an' Dale he tells me a story o' how he was once called to a fire in a
cemetary, an' had to go down among the coffins--for they was afire--an'
what a fright some o' his men got, when, just as he had finished, an'
all my flesh was creepin' at wot I'd heard, there comes a ring at the
bell an' a call to a fire in Portland Street. I runs an' gets out the
ingin, an' Frank (he was my mate that night) he rings up the boys, an'
away we wint in tin minutes. It wasn't far, an' when we got there in we
wint into the house, which was full o' smoke, but no fire to be seen.
We wint coughin' and sneezin' an' rubbin' our eyes down into a cellar,
where the lads of another ingin was at work before us wi' the
hand-pumps, an', would ye belaive it? but the walls o' that cellar was
lined wi' coffins! True for ye, there they was, all sizes, as thick as
they could stand. I thought I was dramin', but it was no drame, for it
was an undertaker's shop; an' when I wint upstairs, after we diskivered
the fire an' put it out, I sees two coffins on tressels lyin' ready for
use. Wan was black-painted wood, no doubt for a poor man, an' nothin'
inside o't. The other alongside was covered wid superfine black cloth
an' silver-mounted handles, an' name-plate, an' it was all padded inside
an' lined wid white satin!"
"White satin, Joe? You're jokin'."
"As sure as your name's Molly, it was white satin," repeated Joe; "I
wouldn't have belaived it av I hadn't seen it; but that's the way the
quality goes to their graves. I looks at the two coffins as I was
comin' away, an' thinks I to myself, I wonder whether the poor man or
the rich man'll be most comfortable when they're laid there?"
"Now, Molly, I'll bid ye good-night an' be off to see this owld lady,
this Mrs Denman. Look afther that boy, now, an kape the matches out of
his way, whativer ye do."
With this very needful warning, Joe Corney kissed his wife and the baby,
and went off to the station to obtain leave of absence for a couple of
hours.