She stood alone upon the porch, waiting anxiously, when the Townsend landau drove in at the gate, bringing home Murray and Jane, who had been out to dinner. "There she is," said Murray, with suppressed excitement. The next instant he was out, had whirled Jane out also, and was grasping his young sister’s hands. "Don’t be frightened--it ’s all right. But a few things have happened this evening. The Armstrong factory----" "I know. Is it gone?" "To the foundations. Peter found the fire, fought it alone till the firemen came, rescued the night-watchman--played the leading part generally--till an accident put him out. My word!--that fellow----Well--he ’s all right, but he ’s burned a bit, and his leg ’s broken. He was so confoundedly risky, trying to save the last calendar on the wall----" "Where is he?" "St. Martin’s Hospital. We ’ve just come from there. He got his knock-out the first half-hour after the thing began, so there ’s been time to get him fixed up. Our man Larrabee was at the fire, saw Peter put into the ambulance, and telephoned me at the Kingsfords’. Tried three times to get his people at home, but could n’t. See here, he wants you to tell his mother--says Jane is too much upset." [Illustration: "’LARRABEE WAS AT THE FIRE AND SAW PETER PUT INTO THE AMBULANCE’"] Shirley looked at Jane. "I ’m not upset," said Jane, but her lips were unsteady. Murray put his arm around her. "You see, Larrabee thought it was worse than it was with Peter, when they put him in the ambulance. He was stunned by the fall that broke his leg. It gave Janey a bad shock, and no wonder--it did me. But the old boy ’s himself again, all right, and his one idea is to let his mother know why he does n’t come home, but to keep even the news of the factory fire from his father to-night, if he can. We don’t see why, but he seems to, so we ’ll follow his wishes. It’s the least we can do for him." Shirley slipped through the hedge, and slowly crossed Gay Street in the moonlight. She was trying hard to be cool and do as Peter wanted her to do. If she rang, Mr. Bell would come to the door, and then how should she manage, what excuse should she give? She thought of a way. "Mr. Bell," she said when he appeared, "Janey ’s come home from her party--and she ’s had just a little bit too much party. She feels like a small girl again, and wants her mother to come over for a few minutes." "Why, of course," said Mr. Bell, heartily, from the shadow of the doorway. "Nothing much the matter with the little girl?" "Oh, no--she ’ll be all right in the morning." So Mrs. Bell crossed the road with Shirley, and the girl, with her arm round the elder woman’s shoulders, gently told her the news. Mrs. Bell took it as Peter had known she would, quietly, although, aside from his personal injury, there was much cause for anxious thought in the loss of the factory and the consequent putting of its workers out of employment.