"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.