Nan was suddenly excited by the sight of the child crossing the crowded street; she sprang to the edge of the walk, but did not scream as the little one scurried on. Down the driveway came a heavy auto-truck and although the little girl saw the approach of this, she could not well see what followed the great vehicle.
She escaped the peril of the truck, but came immediately in the path of a touring car that shot out from behind to pass the truck. With a nerve-racking "honk! honk!" the swiftly moving car was upon the child.
Bess and Grace did scream; but Nan, first aware of the little one's danger, was likewise first to attempt her rescue. And she needed her breath for that effort. Other people shouted at the child and, from either sidewalk, Nan was the only person who darted out to save her!
The driver under the steering wheel of the touring car did his best to bring it to an abrupt stop; but the wheels skidded and—for a breathless moment—it did seem as though the shawl-blinded child must go under the wheels of the vehicle.
Nan Sherwood seized the shawl and by main strength dragged its owner to the gutter. The car slid past; both girls were safe!
"You lemme be! you lemme be!" shrieked the girl Nan had rescued, evidently considering herself much abused by the rough treatment her rescuer had given her, and struggling all the time to keep Nan from lifting her upon the sidewalk.
"Why, you little savage!" gasped Bess Harley. "Don't you know you've been saved?"
"Who wants to be saved?" demanded the smaller girl, looking up at the three older ones out of the hood of the shawl she had clung to so desperately. "What youse savin' me from?"
Bess grew more excited. "Why, Nan!" she cried. "It is—it must be! Don't you see who she is?"
Nan was already looking down into the dark, shrewd and thin countenance of the little one with a smile of recognition. It was Inez, the little flower-girl, whom she had so fortunately pulled out of the way of the automobile.