But it was too late; he had already gained the staircase.

It was steep, dark, twisted, very unsafe for children; still, in his fear, Arthur plunged down it.

In a minute there was heard a cry and a heavy fall.
Fierce-tempered woman as she was, Phillis had a heart.

She rushed down after the child, but he turned screaming from her, and it was his stepmother who lifted him up and carried him into her own room.
Christian, young as she was, had had necessarily much experience with children.

She soothed the boy, and felt that no limbs were broken; indeed, he complained of nothing, but he turned whiter and whiter, and shrank from the slightest touch.
"Something is certainly wrong with him.