with the children--I called out 'Where's Priscilla?' and she
shouted back--she shouted back:' Oh, Mr. Bradley--oh, Mr. Bradley-
-'" And overcome by the hideous recollection, Bert choked, and
began to unbutton and button the top of his daughter's little
petticoat.

"We were all out walkin'," Ned volunteered eagerly. "And Joe
Underbill went by on his bike. And he yelled at us, 'You'd better
go home, your house is on fire!' and Anne began to cry, didn't
you, Anne? So Agnes said a prayer, right out loud, didn't she,
Junior? And then Dad and Mr. Rose went by us in the car on a run--
we were way up by Ingrams'--and then Anne and Agnes cried, and I
guess we all cried some--"

"And mother, lissun," Junior added. "They didn't get the baby out
until after they got out the piano! They got the piano out before
they got Priscilla! Because Pauline ran over to Wallaces', and
Hannah was walking into the village for the mail, and when Dad got
here and yelled to the men, they said they hadn't seen any baby--
they thought the house was empty--"

Nancy turned deathly pale, her eyes reaching Bert's, her lips
moving without a sound.

"I tried the front stairway, but it was--well, I couldn't," Bert
said. "I kept thinking that she must have been got out, by
somebody--but I knew it was only a question of minutes--if she
wasn't! All the time I kept saying 'You're a fool--they couldn't
have forgotten her--!' and Rose kept yelling that she must be
somewhere, with someone, but I didn't--somehow I didn't dare let