This he instantly caught up in his arms, and was
hastening down the stairs, when the cries of the other from a distant
part of the building made him hesitate; but thinking it better to
secure one than to hazard both by lingering, he rushed into the
street just as a post-chaise had stopped to inquire the particulars
of the accident. The carriage-door being open, Thaddeus, seeing
ladies in it, without saying a word, threw the sleeping infant into
their laps, and hastened back into the house, where he hoped to
rescue the other child before the fire could increase to warrant
despair. The flames having now made dreadful progress, his face,
hands, and clothes were scorched by their fury as he flew from the
room, following the shrieks of the child, who seemed to change its
situation with every exertion that he made to reach it. At length,
when every moment he expected the house would sink under his feet, as
a last attempt he directed his steps along a passage he had not
before observed, and to his great joy beheld the object of his search
flying down a back staircase. The boy sprung into his arms; and
Thaddeus, turning round, leaped from one landing-place to another,
until he found himself again in the street, surrounded by a crowd of
people.
He saw the poor mother clasp this second rescued child to her breast;
and whilst the spectators were loading her with congratulations, he
slipped away unseen, and proceeded homewards, with a warmth at his
heart which made him forget, in the joy of a benevolent action, that
petrifying shock which had been occasioned by the vices of one too
nearly allied to his being to be hated without horror.
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