“Did a rat get you?” asked Jack. “Say, you do look pale, Sis,” for the electric lights, with which the garage was illuminated, had been turned on. Truly Cora seemed white.
“There are some big ones up there,” she remarked evasively, wondering if the woman would really go to the house.
With unsteady steps the stranger made her way to the kitchen, where two rather frightened maids were watching the progress made in fighting the fire.
“Miss–Miss Cora told me to come here–and wait for her,” faltered the woman. She made no effort to ascend the steps of the back porch.
“Come right in,” urged Nettie. “Or perhaps you would rather sit out here and watch. I’ll get you a chair.”
“Yes, I would–thank you.”
She walked up and sat down.
“I–I had rather be out in the air,” she went on.
Back in the garage the young people were seeing that no lingering spark remained.
“It is all out,” remarked Bess. “Oh, but we’re so soiled and–and smoky.”