Phyllis went, and Ada stood a few moments in doubt, looking at the letter. The recollection of duty was not strong enough to balance the temptation, and she took up a match and drew it along the sandpaper. It did not light-a second pull, and the flame appeared more suddenly than she had expected, while at the same moment the lock of the door turned, and fancying it was Maurice, she started, and dropped the match. Phyllis opened the door, heard a loud explosion and a scream, saw a bright flash and a cloud of smoke. She started back, but the next moment again opened the door, and ran forward. Hannah rushed in at the same time, and caught up Ada, who had fallen to the ground. A light in the midst of the smoke made Phyllis turn, and she beheld the papers on the table on fire. Maurice's powder-horn was in the midst, but the flames had not yet reached it, and, mindful of Claude's story, she sprung forward, caught it up, and dashed it through the window; she felt the glow of the fire upon her cheek, and stood still as if stunned, till Hannah carried Ada out of the room, and screamed to her to come away, and call Joseph. The table was now one sheet of flame, and Phyllis flew to the pantry, where she gave the summons in almost inaudible tones. The servants hurried to the spot, and she was left alone and bewildered; she ran hither and thither in confusion, till she met Hannah, eagerly asking for Master Maurice, and saying that the surgeon must be instantly sent for, as Ada's face and neck were badly burnt. Phyllis ran down, calling Maurice, and at length met him at the front door, looking much frightened, and asking for Ada.
'Oh! Maurice, her face and neck are burnt, and badly. She does scream?'
'Did I not tell you not to meddle with the powder?' said Maurice.
'Indeed, I could not help it,' said Phyllis.
'Stuff and nonsense! It is very well that you have not killed Ada, and I think that would have made you sorry.'
Phyllis with difficulty mentioned Hannah's desire that a surgeon should be sent for: Maurice went to look for Ben, and she followed him. Then he began asking how she had done the mischief.
'I do not know,' said she, 'I do not much think I did it.'
'Mind, you can't humbug me. Did you not say that you touched the powder?'
'Yes, but-'
'No buts,' said Maurice, making the most of his brief authority. 'I hate false excuses. What were you doing when it exploded?'
'Coming into the room.'
'Oh! that accounts for it,' said Maurice, 'the slightest vibration causes an explosion of that sort of rocket, and of course it was your bouncing into the room! You have had a lesson against rushing about the house. Come, though, cheer up, Phyl, it is a bad business, but it might have been worse; you will know better next time. Don't cry, Phyl, I will explain to you all about the patent rocket.'
'But do you really think that I blew up Ada?'
'Blew up Ada! caused the powder to ignite. The inflammable matter - '
As he spoke he followed Phyllis to the nursery, and there was so much shocked, that he could no longer lord it over her, but shrinking back, shut himself up in his room, and bolted the door.
Nearly an hour passed away before the arrival of Emily, Jane, and Mr. Saunders. Phyllis ran down, and meeting them at the door, exclaimed, 'Oh! Emily, poor Ada! I am so sorry.'
The sisters hurried past her to the nursery, where Ada was lying on the bed, half undressed, and her face, neck, and arm such a spectacle that Emily turned away, ready to faint. Mr. Saunders was summoned, and Phyllis thrust out of the room. She sat down on the step of the stairs, resting her forehead on her knees, and trembling, listened to the sounds of voices, and the screams which now and then reached her ears. After a time she was startled by hearing herself called from the stairs by below a voice which she had not heard for many weeks, and springing up, saw Mr. Devereux leaning on the banisters. The great change in his appearance frightened her almost as much as the accident itself, and she stood looking at him without speaking. 'Phyllis,' said he, in a voice hoarse with agitation, 'what is it? tell me at once.'
She could not speak, and her wild and frightened air might well give him great alarm. She pointed to the nursery, and put her finger to her lips, and he, beckoning to her to follow him, went downstairs, and turning into the drawing-room, said, as he sank down upon the sofa, 'Now, Phyllis, what has happened?'
'The gunpowder-I made it go off, and it has burnt poor Ada's face! Mr. Saunders is there, and she screams-'
Phyllis finding herself ready to roar, left off speaking, and laying her head on the table, burst into an agony of crying, while Mr. Devereux was too much exhausted to address her; at last she exclaimed: 'I hear the nursery door; he is going!'
She flew to the door, and listened, and then called out, 'Emily, Jane, here is Cousin Robert!'
Jane came down, leaving Emily to finish hearing Mr. Saunders's directions. She was even more shocked at her cousin's looks than Phyllis had been, and though she tried to speak cheerfully, her manner scarcely agreed with her words. 'It is all well, Robert, I am sorry you have been so frightened. It is but a slight affair, though it looks so shocking. There is no danger. But, oh, Robert! you ought not to be here. What shall we do for you? you are quite knocked up.'
'Oh! no,' said Mr. Devereux, 'I am only a little out of breath. A terrible report came to me, and I set off to learn the truth. I should like to hear what Mr. Saunders says of her.'
'I will call him in here before he goes,' said Jane; 'how tired you are; you have not been out before.'
'Only to the gate to speak to Rotherwood yesterday, and prevent him from coming in,' said Mr. Devereux, 'but I have great designs for Sunday. They come home to-morrow, do not they?'
Jane was much relieved by hearing her cousin talk in this manner, and answered, 'Yes, and a dismal coming home it will be; it is too late to let them know.'
Mr. Saunders now entered, and gave a very favourable account of the patient, saying that even the scars would probably disappear in a few weeks. His gig had come from Raynham, and he offered to set Mr. Devereux down at the parsonage, a proposal which the latter was very glad to accept. Emily and Jane had leisure, when they were gone, to inquire into the manner of the accident. Phyllis answered that Maurice said that her banging the door had made the powder go off. Jane then asked where Maurice was, and Phyllis reporting that he was in his own room, she repaired thither, and knocked twice without receiving an answer. On her call, however, he opened the door; she saw that he had been in tears, and hastened to tell him Mr. Saunders's opinion. He fastened the door again as soon as she had entered. 'If I could have thought it!' sighed he. 'Fool that I was, not to lock the door!'
'Then you were not there? Phyllis says that she did it by banging the door. Is not that nonsense?'
'Not at all. Did I not read to you in the Year Book of Facts about the patent signal rockets, which explode with the least vibration, even when a carriage goes by? Now, mine was on the same principle. I was making an experiment on the ingredients; I did not expect to succeed the first time, and so I took no precautions. Well! Pyrotechnics are a dangerous science! Next time I study them it shall be at the workshop at the Old Court.'
Maurice was sincerely sorry for the consequence of his disobedience, and would have been much to be pitied had it not been for his secret satisfaction in the success of his art. He called his sister into the schoolroom to explain how it happened. The room was a dismal sight, blackened with smoke, and flooded with water, the table and part of the floor charred, a mass of burnt paper in the midst, and a stifling smell of fire. A pane of glass was shattered, and Maurice ran down to the lawn to see if he could find anything there to account for it. The next moment he returned, the powder-horn in his hand. 'See, Jenny, how fortunate that this was driven through the window with the force of the explosion. The whole place might have been blown to atoms with such a quantity as this.'