Tim started nervously and looked behind him, but there was no Aunt Sabrina in sight; only the dark portals and the blacker well of the broad stairway. He wiped his drenched face and neck with an already damp handkerchief and gave vent to his feelings. ‘Of all the blamed idiots!’ he sputtered. ‘Keeping us standing out there in that rain when the door-key was right there all the time! I’m soaking wet right to the skin and I’ll probably catch cold, and it’s all your fault! If you had any sense――’ A salvo of thunder, and the hallway was ablaze with vivid white light! Tim stood rooted with terror, his mouth still open, but no words coming! As silence fell again, both he and Pud started and stared in alarm toward the doorway at the back. From beyond it came faint but unmistakable sounds; footsteps, a clatter of metal! Tim turned a glance along the dim hallway toward the front door and had already made one hurried step in its direction, when Pud laughed with nervous relief. ‘Harmon,’ he said. Sure enough, Harmon was no longer with them! Together they made their way toward the sounds, through the darkened dining-room and the dimmer pantry to the kitchen. Harmon was in the act of setting fire to the paper and kindlings he had stuffed into the big stove. He looked up as they entered and grinned serenely. ‘Goin’ have us a fire in ’bout two shakes, Mister Pud, so’s we can get us dry.’ ‘Great!’ approved Pud, and found the gas bracket and sent a flood of illumination over the big room. Somehow, the light and the sound of the crackling flames seemed to make everything all right at once. Tim forgot his peevishness and wriggled out of his jacket, and Harmon, having moved a folding clothes-dryer to the end of the stove, spread the garment out on it. Pud was on the porch now, peering into the big refrigerator. Harmon added more wood to the fire and then carefully applied lumps of coal. A gentle warmth was already perceptible. Tim’s frowns smoothed out and he smiled contentedly as he rubbed damp hands together. Pud came back with the results of his foray and set them on the table; a carton of eggs, a shoulder of boiled ham, butter, a sauce-dish of stewed tomatoes, and a jar of milk not quite full. Tim cheered so loudly that a jarring peal of thunder made almost no impression on him!