"I _have_ tried to please them and be brave and do my duty because
they've given me a home," he reasoned to himself, "but perhaps if they
had money when father died, I'm not beholden after all, as they always
say I am. And oh, I would like to find a real relation! And isn't it
good of Paddy to get that dear little Pat for me? I _must_ wait till
he is big enough to go too, and then I can have him for my very, very
own."
Dick was thirteen, and small for his age, but his mental powers were
keen, and he knew that if he stayed with the Fowleys he would have no
chance to get on in life.
And looking up into the blue summer sky, he prayed to his heavenly
Father to help him to get away.
CHAPTER II.
FIGHTING FIRE.
A sudden scream of terror from the cottage roused Dick from his
thinking, and laying the baby down he rushed in.
On the doorstep he met little Susy, with her lilac pinafore in flames.
She had been trying to reach something from the mantelpiece, and had
climbed up on the unsteady old fender. There was no guard in front of
the open fire, and the draught had drawn her pinafore towards the bars
and set it on fire, and the flames were mounting around her, and
already her hair was singed.
But Lionheart knew what to do. With a spring and a cry he caught her
just as she was rushing out-of-doors, and flinging her down he fell on
her, and tore and clutched at the burning rags with his bare hands.
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