With a swift movement the older woman disentangled herself from the little girl's arms.
In another moment she had gone inside the burning house.
Jeanette, leaning over her father, did not immediately observe this. He was trying to speak.
"Something has happened, I don't know what. Are my girls safe?" he queried.
Jeanette felt a thrill of pleasure. Her father's first thought had been for them, not for his wife! She could not know that he believed himself to be addressing Jack.
She turned her head.
What had become of her stepmother and where was Via? Why had she failed to realize until this instant that she had not seen Via since she aroused her from bed and bade her run swiftly down the smoke-filled hall?
"Eda, where is Via? You must have seen her!" cried Jeanette, clutching the little girl's shoulders with hot, nervous hands.
Eda pointed toward the house.
"She has never come out. I have been calling and calling, and waiting and waiting." Her voice rose to a thin wail. "Mother has gone to find her," she added, with a slightly happier note.