Wyley. 'I don't know if it is true,
but take him away. I'm not safe while he's there; they will murder me!
Go, go!'
Miss Anne led Stephen away; and no sooner were they outside the room,
than the master rushed forward and locked and barred the door securely
behind them. There was a window in the landing, looking over the yard
where the housebreakers were, and they stood at it in silence, straining
their eyes into the darkness. But it did not remain dark long; for a
thin, bright flame burst up from behind the dairy wall, and by its
fitful blaze they could see the figures of four men coming rapidly round
from that corner of the old building.
'Fire! fire!' they shouted, in wild voices of alarm, and beating the
iron-studded door with heavy sticks. 'Wake up, master! wake up! the
house is on fire!'
Their only answer was a frantic scream from the servant, who thrust her
head out of her window, and echoed their shouts with piercing cries. But
Stephen and Miss Anne did not move; only Miss Anne laid her hand upon
his arm, and he felt how much she trembled.
'They're only trying to frighten us,' he said quietly; 'that's only the
wood-stack on fire.
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