Dorothy hesitated an instant, and then as if realizing that there was no other way by which they could appeal for help, she knelt down amid the ashes, never once thinking of her bright green stockings, and began in a thin, shrill voice which could well have been heard by that terrible stranger in the parlor, more particularly because the doors were open:
"Dear, kind, good Lord, we two poor girls are all alone in this big house, and Scip has run away. There's a bad man in the best room who has come to kill us, and won't You smite him to save us who never did You nor him any harm? We—we—we—" Dorothy was at a loss to know how the petition should be brought to a close, for it was her first original prayer, and as she hesitated the words that had been read on that afternoon came to mind, therefore she added, "and we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. Amen."
It was as if the children expected an immediate answer to the petition, for they clung to each other in silence, choking back their sobs as they listened intently, and suddenly the silence was broken by the sound of approaching footsteps.
The prayer was to be answered.
"He's coming to kill us!" Sarah cried in an agony of fear, and before Dorothy could make reply, even had she been able to do so, the flaring
