"Here you are, Miss, safe and sound," the fireman said grimly. "And just in time too!"
Scarcely had the ladders been removed from the building when the wall fell inward. Penny did not speak for a minute. Now that it was all over, she felt weak and shaken. Her escape had been such a narrow one.
"Are you all right?" the fireman asked, taking her arm.
"Quite," Penny smiled. "You needn't hold me. I'll not faint."
"You have pluck, Miss. And your wrists are cut too. I'll call the doctor."
"No, don't bother. It's nothing," Penny protested. "Where are my pictures?"
"Here." The fireman handed them over to her. "It was foolish going back after them. You might have lost your life."
"I realize that now," Penny responded soberly, "but I just had to get those pictures. Thank you for helping me save them."
Before she could add that she felt deeply grateful for her own rescue as well, the fireman was called to another post.
With a policeman as a bodyguard, Penny pushed her way through the crowd, the precious Rembrandt and the duplicate clutched under her arm.