Scarcely was this done when Mr.and Mrs.Mumford, after a leisurely walk from the station, approached their garden gate.

The sight of a little crowd of people in the quiet road, the smell of burning, loud voices of excited servants, caused them to run forward in alarm.

Emmeline, frenzied by the certainty that her own house was on fire, began to cry aloud for her child, and Mumford rushed like a madman through the garden.
'It's all right,' said a man who stood in the doorway.

'You Mr.
Mumford?
It's all right.

There's been a fire, but we've got it out.' Emmeline learnt at the same moment that her child had suffered no harm, but she would not pause until she saw the little one and held him in her embrace.