“Well, what is it?” asked his sister indifferently, “is it anything very important?” “Important enough to be in the newspaper and for me to go right down town to see about it,” rejoined her brother. “Tell me, what it is, Harry, won’t you please?” said Kitty, in the pleading way which she knew he could not resist, and in reply Harry produced a copy of the New York _Herald_, which he had been hiding behind his back, carefully folded it, and then, holding it in front of the young girls’ faces, permitted them to read a single sentence before he snatched the paper away again. What they read was: “The name of the injured fireman is Bruce Decker. He was removed to the New York hospital, where he now lies in a precarious condition.” Kitty turned toward Laura, whose face was white and whose teeth were tightly clinched. “Isn’t it dreadful?” she cried, as she threw her arm about her friend’s waist. “Let me see the rest of it, Harry!” cried Laura, imperiously, trying to take the paper from her brother’s hand. “No, you don’t!” cried the boy, resolutely, as he held the _Herald_ out of her reach, “not until you find that ball of mine you said you lost yesterday.” “Harry!” called a stern voice near them, and the boy turned sharply round to find his tutor, Mr. Reed, advancing rapidly toward him. “Go back to your room at once, Harry!” said Mr. Reed, sternly; and before the boy could reply his sister tore the paper from his grasp and ran off with it at the top of her speed. “Come back with that!” cried her brother, as he started in pursuit, but the angry voice of his tutor recalled him before he had gone twenty paces, and he marched into the house very red in the face, and casting angry glances behind him at the two girls, who were now sitting in the summer-house, eagerly reading the long account of the fire at which Bruce had so nearly lost his life. When they had finished it Laura drew a long breath, and then burst into tears. “Don’t cry, dear,” said Kitty, as she wiped a tear or two from her own face, “I’m sure he’s not badly hurt and will be all right again in a very few days.” “It would be dreadful if he were to die without ever finding out the mystery of his birth,” wailed Laura. “Oh, dear, if I only knew where to find him I would write him a letter or go down to see him.” “The paper says he’s at the New York hospital,” said Kitty. “Why don’t you go down there this very day? I think it would be just too romantic and interesting for words.” Laura sprang to her feet and wiped the tears from her eyes with a swift movement of her hand. “I’ll do it,” she said. “I’ll find out where the New York hospital is and how to get there, and I’ll start this very minute. Harry thought he was so smart because he read it in the paper first, and was going down there himself all so bold and gay, but he’ll find out when he does get there that I’ve been there before him.”