Presently the fireman returned with my doggie in his arms.
Poor Dumps! He was a pitiable sight. Tons of hot water had been
pouring on his devoted head, and his shaggy, shapeless coat was so
plastered to his long, little body, that he looked more like a drowned
weazel than a terrier. He was trembling violently, and whined
piteously, as they gave him to me; nevertheless, he attempted to wag his
tail and lick my hands. In both attempts he failed. His tail was too
wet to wag--but it wriggled.
"He'd have saved himself, sir," said the man who brought him, "only
there was a rope round his neck, which had caught on a coal-scuttle and
held him. He's not hurt, sir, though he do seem as if some one had bin
tryin' to choke him."
"My poor doggie!" said I, fondling him.
"He won't want washin' for some time to come," observed one of the
bystanders.
There was a laugh at this.
"Come; now the dog is safe you have no reason for refusing to go with
me," said the elderly gentleman, who, I now understood, was the master
of the burning house.
As we walked away he asked my name and profession, and I thought he
smiled with peculiar satisfaction when I said I was a student of
medicine.
"Oh, indeed!" he said; "well--we shall see. But here we are. This is
the house of my good friend Dobson. City man--capital fellow, like all
City men--ahem! He has put his house at my disposal at this very trying
period of my existence."
"But are you sure, Dr McTougall, that _all_ the household is saved?" I
asked, becoming more thoroughly awake to the tremendous reality of the
scene through which I had just passed.
"Sure! my good fellow, d'you think I'd be talking thus quietly to you if
I were _not_ sure? Yes, thanks to you and the firemen, under God,
there's not a hair of their heads injured."
"Are you--I beg pardon--are you quite sure? Have you seen Miss
McTougall since she--"
"Miss McTougall!" exclaimed the doctor, with a laugh. "D'you mean my
little Jenny by that dignified title?"
"Well, of course, I did not know her name, and she is not _very_ large;
but I brought her down the shoot with such violence that--"
An explosion of laughter from the doctor stopped me as I entered a large
library, the powerful lights of which at first dazzled me.
"Here, Dobson, let me introduce you to the man who has saved my whole
family, and who has mistaken Miss Blythe for my Jenny!--Why, sir," he
continued, turning to me, "the bundle you brought down so
unceremoniously is only my governess. Ah! I'd give twenty thousand
pounds down on the spot if she were only my daughter. My Jenny will be
a lucky woman if she grows up to be like her."
"I congratulate you, Mr Mellon," said the City man, shaking me warmly
by the hand.
"You have acted with admirable promptitude--which is most important at a
fire--and they tell me that the header you took into the escape, with
Miss Blythe in your arms, was the finest acrobatic feat that has been
seen off the stage."
"I say, Dobson, where have you stowed my wife and the children? I want
to introduce him to them."
"In the dining-room," returned the City man. "You see, I thought it
would be more agreeable that they should be all together until their
nerves are calmed, so I had mattresses, blankets, etcetera, brought
down. Being a bachelor, as you know, I could do nothing more than place
the wardrobes of my domestics at the disposal of the ladies. The things
are not, indeed, a very good fit, but--this way, Mr Mellon."
The City man, who was tall and handsome, ushered his guests into what he
styled his hospital, and there, ranged in a row along the wall, were
five shakedowns, with a child on each. Seldom have I beheld a finer
sight than the sparkling lustre of their ten still glaring eyes! Two
pleasant young domestics were engaged in feeding the smaller ones with
jam and pudding. We arrange the words advisedly, because the jam was,
out of all proportion, too much for the pudding. The elder children
were feeding themselves with the same materials, and in the same
relative proportions. Mrs McTougall, in a blue cotton gown with white
spots, which belonged to the housemaid, reclined on a sofa; she was
deadly pale, and the expression of horror was not quite removed from her
countenance.
Beside her, administering restoratives, sat Miss Blythe, in a chintz
dress belonging to the cook, which was ridiculously too large for her.
She was dishevelled and flushed, and looked so pleasantly anxious about
Mrs McTougall that I almost forgave her having robbed me of my doggie.
"Miss Blythe, your deliverer!" cried the little doctor, who seemed to
delight in blowing my trumpet with the loudest possible blast; "my dear,
your preserver!"
I bowed in some confusion, and stammered something incoherently. Mrs
McTougall said something else, languidly, and Miss Blythe rose and held
out her hand with a pleasant smile.
"Well, if this isn't one of the very jolliest larks I ever had!"
exclaimed Master Harry from his corner, between two enormous spoonfuls.
"Hah!" exclaimed Master Jack.
He could say no more. He was too busy!
We all laughed, and, much to my relief, general attention was turned to
the little ones.
"You young scamps!--the `lark' will cost me some thousands of pounds,"
said the doctor.
"Never mind, papa. Just go to the bank and they'll give you as much as
you want."
"More pooding!" demanded Master Job. The pleasant-faced domestic
hesitated.
"Oh! give it him. Act the banker on this occasion, and give him as much
as he wants," said the doctor.
"Good papa!" exclaimed the overjoyed Jenny; "how I wis' we had a house
on fire every night!"
Even Dolly crowed with delight at this, as if she really appreciated the
idea, and continued her own supper with increased fervour.
Thus did that remarkable family spend the small hours of that morning,
while their home was being burned to ashes.