Before her niece could reply there came a thundering knock at the hall door. "The doctor!" cried 'Phemie. Lyddy feared it was the young stranger returning, and she could only gasp. What should she say to him if he came in? How introduce him to Aunt Jane? But the latter lady took affairs into her own hands at this juncture and went to the door. She unlocked and threw it open. Several helmets and glistening rubber coats appeared vaguely in the hall. "Getting wet down here some; aren't you?" asked one of the firemen. "We'll spread some tarpaulins over your stuff. Fire's out--about." "And the water's _in_," returned Aunt Jane, tartly. "Nice time to come and try to save a body's furniture----" "Get it out of the adjusters. They'll be around," said the fireman, with a grin. "How much insurance have you, Lyddy?" demanded the aunt, when the firemen, after covering the already wet and bedraggled furniture, had clumped out in their heavy boots. "Not a penny, Aunt Jane!" cried her niece, wildly. "I never thought of it!" "Ha! you're not so much like your mother, then, as I thought. _She_ would never have overlooked such a detail." "I know it! I know it!" moaned Lyddy. "Now, you stop that, Aunt Jane!" exclaimed the bolder 'Phemie. "Don't you hound Lyd. She's done fine--of course she has! But anybody might forget a thing like insurance." "Humph!" grunted the old lady. Then she began again: "And what's the matter with John?" "It's the shop, Aunt," replied Lyddy. "He cannot stand the work any longer. I wish he might never go back to that place again." "And how are you going to live? What's 'Phemie getting a week?" "Nothing--after this week," returned the younger girl, shortly. "I sha'n't have any work, and I've only been earning six dollars." "Humph!" observed Aunt Jane for a second time. There came a light tap on the door. They could hear it, for the confusion and shouting in the house had abated. The fire scare was over; but the floor above was gutted, and a good deal of damage by water had been done on this floor. It was a physician, bag in hand. 'Phemie let him in. Lyddy explained how her father had come home and lain down and she had found him, when the fire scare began, unconscious on the bed--just as he lay now. A few questions explained to the physician the condition of Mr. Bray, and his own observation revealed the condition of the tenement. "He will be better off at the hospital. You are about wrecked here, I see. That young man who called me said he would ring up the City Hospital." The girls were greatly troubled; but Aunt Jane was practical. "Of course, that's the best place for him," she said. "Why! this flat isn't fit for a well person to stay in, let alone a sick man, until it is cleared up. I shall take you girls out with me to my boarding house for the night. Then--we'll see."