She looked at Aunt Anna, thin, weak, and exhausted, lying on the bed. She heard outside the crash of falling timbers and a great shout as a shower of red sparks went sailing past the window. A moment later there came a violent knocking at the door.
Was it Christina she wondered as she ran down the stairs, or had some of those shouting men——?
She called softly before she dared draw the bolt, and was relieved to hear the sound of a woman’s voice. Christina stood on the threshold, and with her Dan O’Leary’s helper at the livery-stable, Sam.
“Things have broken loose quicker than we thought,” the woman began quickly, since there was no need for explanations with that red flare lighting up the whole village. “The men are burning the empty warehouse, just to show what devilment is in them. With this wind the whole town may catch and they don’t care. You and your aunt must get away as quickly as you can. There is a train goes through in less than half an hour, so you must hurry. We couldn’t find Dan, but Sam here has hitched up and will take you down.”
“We will go at once,” Beatrice agreed, beginning to gather up their possessions in the living-room and to make ready for a hasty packing. In the midst of her wild preparations, however, there was a step on the stair and Aunt Anna came slowly down, looking very white and frightened.
“What is all this? What are you doing?” she questioned and, from the combined explanations of Christina, Sam, and her nieces, all given at once, she seemed somehow to divine what had happened.
“There are only twenty minutes now,” Beatrice urged. “We must be quick.” But Aunt Anna did not move.
“You may take the girls to the station,” she said to Sam. “They can travel back alone, but I am not going.”
“But you must,” cried Beatrice desperately. “You will not be safe. You can never get well in a tumult like this.”
Aunt Anna gave her a strange look.