"You don't know anything about the matter, Frankie," she said. "I'm sure if you were as naughty as your cousins, it would break my heart. But, indeed, it is no wonder," she continued, "considering the way that Mr. Blair treats them."
The remark was uttered on the threshold of the study, so Mr. Blair heard it; but he only looked at Nessa with one of his quaint smiles, and asked her to come to him after breakfast.
CHAPTER XX.
The news of the fire had by this time spread, and Rosie and Bobbo were waiting in the passage, eager to know what was happening in the study. They seized upon Murtagh the instant the door was shut, and inquired, but while Frankie answered them Murtagh whispered something to Winnie.
"I'll come, too!" she exclaimed, and they ran away together.
"It will all come out now," said Murtagh, despondingly; "the only thing to be done is just to let him know what's coming."
"Yes," said Winnie, with a sigh, and then they ran in silence till the O'Tooles' cabin came in sight.
"I say, what do you think they'll do to him?" asked Murtagh, stopping to take breath.
"I don't know," replied Winnie; "something dreadful, I expect, because you see the fire spread to the house, and it's burnt, too. I wonder which of the children it is. Supposing it was to die!"