At last, however, when the red light had almost faded quite away, the
cautious steps were heard coming up the stairs, and Felix called into
the room in a low voice--
'All right, Wilmet.'
'Oh! come in,' the sisters called. 'Where did you find him, Fee? Is
he safe?'
'O Cherry, you never saw such a lark!' cried Lance in a gusty
whisper. 'Wouldn't Fulbert have given his ears to have seen it? To
see the engines pouring down, and the great hose twining about like
jolly old sea-serpents spouting.'
'Hush, Lance; how can you? How could you! Does Mr. Audley know he is
safe?'
'Yes,' said Felix, 'he opened the door, and said he might have known
Lance was too much of a gamin to come to grief.'
'What's a gamin?' said Lance.
'A street ragamuffin at Paris,' said Wilmet. 'But really, Lance, it
was a terrible thing to do.'
'And where do you think I found him?' said Felix. 'In between little
Jacky Brown and that big old coal-heaver who was so impudent about
the blanket-club, hanging like a monkey upon the rails of the
terrace, and hallooing as loud as they.'
''Twas the coal-heaver that helped me up,' said Lance. 'He's a jolly
good fellow, I can tell you.
Pages:
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218