Free Fields of Home by Marita Conlon-Mckenna Page B

hair streaming behind her, Mercy raced across the kitchen and back through the door and up the stairs while the others stumbled outside to safety.
    Through the night air they could hear the farm bell ringing, calling the tenants to help.
    Lord Henry led them around to the front of thehouse, where the true enormity of the fire struck them when they saw the roaring flames blaze through the windows and cover the whole front of the house.
    ‘Oh my dear God!’ cried Lady Martha, slumping on the lawn.
    ‘We’ve got to try and save the house!’ shouted Lord Henry. ‘Fill buckets, pails, whatever receptacles you can find.’ Total chaos and commotion followed as the frantic search for buckets began.
    Finn raced around, half-crazy with excitement. ‘For heaven’s sake, Rose, get a piece of rope and tie up that dog!’ yelled Lord Henry.
    Within minutes the stableyard staff had arrived on the scene. Michael ran as fast as he could, heart pounding, alongside Toss and Tom and Liam and Paddy and young Brendan.
    ‘Oh Michael! Toss! Bring buckets! The house is on fire!’ Miss Felicia came running towards them in bare feet, wearing only her white cotton nightgown, her hair loose and wild.
    Brendan and Paddy turned back down the avenue to go and get buckets. The others stopped in shock for an instant when they saw the blazing house, then they rushed to join the line of household staff and Lord Henry and Miss Rose, who had all formed a human chain. The chain extended from the side wing of the house across the gravelled walkway, along theherbaceous border and up the stone steps. Buckets were filled from the outside tap, then passed along the line as fast as everybody could manage it.
    Soon the massive hall door had blistered and burnt and cracked, enabling them to kick it down. Someone poured water into the hallway, splashing it onto the sizzling flames and causing them to hiss momentarily. Toss and Bernard doused the old grandfather clock that stood in the hall, then, rushing across the floor, heaved it up and dragged it out the door, where everyone helped lift it awkwardly down the granite steps onto the lawn. The wood was still warm and one side rather blistered, but at least it was out of the house.
    ‘Two of the maids are still upstairs!’ shouted Felicia, ‘one of the others has gone to help them.’
    With a tug of his heart Michael realised that Mercy was missing from the chain and knew he must find her.
    ‘Where are they, Felicia?’ he shouted at the bewildered young girl.
    ‘They sleep right up in the attic, Michael. Mercy went to get them.’
    ‘Which way?’
    ‘She went up the servants’ stairs …’
    Michael was already racing across the yard and through the kitchen. ‘Mercy!’ he called.
    The stairs were pitch black and when he tried to take them at the double he almost fell. He could hearthe creaking roar of the fire as he climbed up through the darkness. ‘Mercy! Are ye all right?’
    The smoke was so thick it nearly choked him, making him cough and wheeze. There was so much noise that he couldn’t make out if the young women were hearing him or not.
    He climbed up further, holding onto the narrow banisters. The door onto the first landing glowed a fiery red and would probably explode in a few minutes. The fire was right behind it on the other side. He quickened his pace.
    ‘Mercy!’ he screamed hoarsely.
    He thought he heard something. ‘Up here! We’re up here!’ It was Mercy.
    One more landing, and the sound of the fire had changed. High up here it had a strange, rumbling sound, like thunder that would engulf you.
    Michael opened the tiny door into the attic space. He gasped when he saw that part of the ceiling and roof had already collapsed. Claws of flames which belched from the chimney had set fire to the beams.
    ‘Oh, thank God!’ murmured Mercy.
    The other two girls were sitting mesmerised and terrified on the narrow bed. Mercy was trying to drag them away, but she couldn’t get them to