their baths, and all retired to rest, looking forward to a happy day on
the morrow, the first Sunday in our new Institution.




CHAPTER XXII.

FIRE! FIRE!


At 10 o'clock that Saturday night (September 27th) I went my rounds as
usual to see that all was well. Earlier in the evening we had fancied
that we smelt burning, but it was accounted for by the matron, who said
that she had put some old rags into the washhouse stove. Everything
seemed to be safe and comfortable, and at 11 p.m. I retired to rest.

About 3 o'clock in the morning Mrs. Wilson and myself were
simultaneously awakened by the running to and fro of the boys in the
dormitory overhead, and the shouting of the schoolmaster. We were both
up in an instant. I lighted a candle, put on a few clothes, and opened
the door leading into the nursery. The cause of alarm was immediately
apparent. Flames were leaping up at the back of the house, seeming to
come from the cellar, which was entered by a staircase from the
outside, just under the nurseries. Every one now was crying "Fire!" and
all seemed to be rushing about frantically. Mrs. Wilson called to the
servants to wrap our children in blankets, and escape with them. I ran
from the nursery to the kitchen, where was a door that led out to the
back; there I found Cryer and Frost vainly endeavouring to stifle the
flames by throwing on buckets of water. It was raining in torrents. Not