"Depend upon 't, Mrs. Fowley, he's saved your Susy's life. Best not talk about hidings." "What's the matter here?" cried a brisk voice at the door, as the old doctor entered. He had been visiting in the next street, and was fortunately met by the messenger. "Burns. Ah! the old story--open fires and no guard. When _will_ you women learn wisdom?" Mrs. Fowley shrank from his stern look, and whined, "How can the likes of we afford guards, I should like to know?" "Afford?" he echoed sharply, as he turned from his examination of Susy's hurts. "You women spend enough at the 'Blue Dragon' every week to put a guard at every fire-place, to say nothing of what the men spend. If you hadn't been drinking together, and neglecting home, this wouldn't have happened. I can smell the gin here and now!" The old doctor was noted for his plain speaking, but with all his sternness to wrong doing, he was very tender-hearted, and nothing could have been more gentle than his touch on Susy's arm. Fortunately her hurts were surface burns, and no vital part had been touched by the flame. But Dick's were more severe, and the doctor took infinite pains in bandaging the scarred hands and wrists. "You're a brave lad," he said, when the pain was eased, and the last strip of lint put on. "How did _you_ come to be burned like this?" "I ran in from the garden when she screamed, and I got her down and scrambled out the flames somehow with my hands and jacket. You see, I _had_ to be Lionheart," he added softly. "Lionheart, is _he_ your hero, the crusader king?" Dick nodded, half scared at finding his cherished aspirations shared by another. "But there is a living Leader to follow, my boy, who is better than all the knights of old. Do you know whom I mean?" "Yes, sir, the Lord Jesus." "Yes, He is the Lion of Judah, and the true Captain of all true crusaders to-day. Follow Him, and he will make you Lionheart indeed." Then turning to Mrs. Fowley, he said in a different tone, "You owe your child's life to this brave little lad. Now take care of him in return. He'll not be able to work for a good while, and he wants feeding up as well. He has no business to be so thin and ill-nourished. See that his hands are kept covered, and Susy's arm too. I'll send liniment down to-night for both. And you will have to nurse the baby yourself, and do the work for many a day." The old doctor's voice was stern as he finished, for he had known Dick's father and mother in their own tidy little home, and he hated Mrs. Fowley's drinking habits, and her neglect of the children, and unkindness to the orphan boy. For once she looked ashamed of herself, and the neighbours, feeling guilty themselves, slipped away. They knew the doctor was right, and that most of the accidents he had to attend, and the poverty that caused him to work for nothing, were alike due to the drink. And life was certainly a little easier for Dick in the next few days.