My thought was uttered in my involuntary cry, "My father!" Some one in the crowd turned, and I heard him exclaim in surprise, "Why, here ee be," and another, "Ah, poor bairn!" in tones of pity. I clutched the nearest villager, and again cried, "My father, where's my father?" looking wildly up into his face; but I didn't stay for his answer, for he turned his head uneasily away. I pushed past him, and squeezing through the crowd broke to the front, crying in an agony, "Daddy, dad-_dee_!" I think I would have run headlong into the flames, for something told me without the need of words what had happened; but I was arrested by a strong arm, whose I don't know to this day, for I only struggled and bit and kicked at him, shouting through my tears, "Let me go to my daddy; let me go!" "Steady, lad, steady," was all I heard in reply; but through my frenzy I could hear a low voice droning evenly and monotonously, "However ee coom out o' 't fust time was a miracle. An' then t' go back again! Good sort too. 'Host,' sez 'ee, 'that cooms o' me carelessness,' sez ee, 'an' here's what'll pay for 't,' ee sez; an' out comes a purse o' gold as ee might be t' lord o' t' county." I heard more of this through my shouting and struggling, though it wasn't till afterwards that I realized the meaning of what I heard. But my struggling stopped when the voice changed to, "An' all of a sudden ee sez, 'Hark!' ee sez; 'Hark there!' an' takes a grip o' me arm, so. 'Ee's calling me,' ee sez; but I couldn't hear nowt. 'Ee's there,' ee cries something dreadful, 'ee's calling me; I can hear him.' An' before I knows what's what ee's into t' fire again, here's t' bairn back again; an' ee weren't calling at all; an' him rushing in t' save him. Ah 't's sad, 't is. An' ee were a good sort...." The first words of the story had frozen me to attention. It was all so like my father that I could see it happening before my eyes. In my confused mind one picture stood out vividly and terribly clear: my father watching the blaze, and suddenly starting at my voice from the flames calling for help; and then the dash into the fire which closed like a curtain behind him. I threw my arms up to my face and sobbed aloud; and everything went dark.... I came to consciousness again with a dim chattering in my ears which slowly strengthened and caught at my memory. And suddenly sitting up I cried, "Picardino!" The little fellow was at my side in a moment, soothing me with hand and voice like a hundred mothers. But something began to grow cold about my heart, and the full recollection of my state burst upon me, and I whimpered like a baby, "Daddy! I want my daddy!"