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Jy foe beat her back. She was near
ly suffocated when she reached a
door, pushed it open, and found her
self iii what seemed to be a large
storeroom. She slammed the door
shut to keep the fire at bay and ran
to the one window of the room to
look out.
Ora was fully frightened as she
noted that the ground was fully 30
feet below. She tried to lift the heavy
sash, but her strength was not equal
to the task. The air was growing
more and more oppressive and she
could hear the crackling of the
flames in the passageway beyond the
door she had just closed.
' "I must get through the window
some way!" she breathed fliitter
ingly. Ora seized a chair, lifted it and
struck the thick glass ipane. It shat
tered; she peered through the aper
ture. A well-dressed young man was
running past through the rear yard,
his eyes lifted, scanning the uppter
windows as though with a definite
purpose in view.
"Ah!" he exclaimed as if with sat
isfaction, darted back to avoid the
descending shower of glass, and then
shouted up to Ora: v
"Remain there just a moment!"
He disappeared, but to speedily re
turn with a long, light ladder. He
dropped, its top across the window
coping, ran up it nimbly.
'No, then!" he spoke, bracing his
feet and opening his arms.
"Just in time!" he added,, for a
tongue of flame darted through the
transom of the room.
Ora was so weak and trembling,
that she hesitated with no false pru
dery to accept the shelter of those
strong, reliant arms. Her rescuer
was handsome, nothing loth to en
fold a beautiful creature, faultlessly
attired. They reached the ground
safely without a jar.
"I was driving by in my 'car when
they brought out Miss Chandler. She
was hysterical, but told me there was I
a young lady in the house. The front
was all ablaze. I rounded the house.
Lucky stars! There you were!"
Ora smiled at the ingenious oft
handedness of this admirable young
man, frank and unassuming to the
point of oddity.
"Wraps lost, I suppose," he por
ceeded briskly. "Friend of Mtss
Chandler? My brother is engaged to
her. Car near by. I must get you
home. This way and we'll evade the
crowd."
"I am not " began the truthful
Ora, but she was not allowed to dis
close the fact that she was not so
fortunate as to be a friend of Miss
Chandler, as the young man had
supposed, but a very humble caterer,
indeed, to the whims of style of that
votary of fashion. The smok& choked
her utterance and her escort breast
ed a crowd to reach an automobile
in which Ora soon found herself and
the young man by her side.
"Now, then," he spoke, when they
had gotten a square from the burn
ing house, "what is the address9"
"Twenty-two Danbury place," said
Ora, "but I cannot put you to the
trouble of driving me there."
She noticed an expression of sur
prise come into her escort's face. It
was apparent that he knew that
Danbury place was located in the
poorest quarter of the city.
"I am afraid that my borrowed fin
ery and the fact that t was in the
Chandler home have misled you," she
spoke out abruptly, deception and
false pride having no part in honest
Ora's nature.
"Borrowed finery?" repeated Mr.
Gregory Dale vaguely.
"I must explain," proceeded Ora.
He listened with eyes full of inter
est. He laughed in a free, jolly way
at the conclusion of the brief nar
rative. "Why, it's like a story book!" he
cried, stimulated by the fanstastic
situation. "I declare! but where do
I come in?"
"Oh, you are the hero of the occa-
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