Trembling and almost terrified at her own boldness, she put on her bonnet and cloak, and went the round of the cages and the hutches and kennels, giving the few animals that were left their evening ration. For each she had a kind word, and they all came at her call as close to her as their surroundings would allow them. When she had given Lion his biscuits, she kissed him and told him to be very good while she was away, and that she would be back directly. Suddenly she recollected that she had disturbed the things in her grandfather’s room, and had not put them tidy. He might notice them and suspect something. She went into the mysterious chamber, and Lion followed her. When she had put the room as she had found it, she recollected that she had disturbed the things under the trapdoor. It took her a long time to find where to lift the trap. But presently it yielded, and the store beneath lay exposed to view. She put the little bags and parcels as tidy as she could, holding a candle which she had lighted so that the light fell on the buried treasure. Stooping over, her head below the flooring, and her little hands busily engaged in putting the bags as she found they were before, she did not hear the outer door open. Josh Heckett had come home early to meet some friends. As he entered the room he saw the candle-light streaming through the door of his bedroom. With a cry of rage he sprang forward and rushed in. Gertie uttered a scream of terror at the sudden appearance of her grandfather, and knelt glued to the spot. The old man’s face wore a look of fury she had never seen before. ‘Little wretch!’ he shrieked, seizing her by the shoulders. ‘So this is how you repay me for all I’ve done for you! You’d rob me, rob me!’ he shrieked, raising his voice and burning with passion; ‘rob a poor old man who’s kept you from the workhouse, you brat! Curse you, what have you taken? Quick—quick.’ He shook the child violently in his rage, as though he expected gold to fall from the folds of her dress. ‘Oh, don’t, grandfather—don’t,’ moaned Gertie, white with terror. ‘I haven’t touched anything—indeed I haven’t. ‘Who put you up to this? Who set you to rob a poor old man? Speak, you little devil, or I’ll wring your neck.’ He seized the child in his blind rage by the throat so violently that she uttered a shriek of pain. The next second something sprang at the old man—something which with fierce eyes had watched the scene from a corner of the room. As Gertie shrieked out, the huge mastiff Lion uttered a fierce growl, and, springing at the child’s adversary, seized him by the throat. Gertie leapt to her feet. ‘Lion, Lion,’ she cried. ‘Oh, don’t, don’t.’ Josh Heckett, old as he was, was still a powerful man. He gripped the dog, and they struggled fiercely for a moment.