Smoke in the nursery

An original fiction passage set in the nineteenth century.

Supper had just been cleared when Miss Calder noticed the smell. It was not the comfortable scent of coal from the dining-room grate, but something sharper, like scorched cloth. She crossed the hall and touched the cord of the servants’ bell. It was warm. Above her, a thin grey thread was working its way along the ceiling.

Mrs Fane called for her husband, although he had gone to town. The footman ran first towards the front door and then towards the stairs, while Mr Dall, the butler, ordered everyone to remain where they were. Miss Calder listened to them for a moment. Then she said that the nursery children must be brought down by the back staircase, that the cook should open the yard gate and that Mr Dall should count the servants outside. She spoke in the same measured voice with which she corrected spelling. Only the hand hidden in the folds of her skirt betrayed her, closing and opening as if it belonged to somebody else.

On the upper landing, the smoke had thickened. Miss Calder found Alice and George beside their beds, but little Theo had crawled beneath a table to rescue a wooden horse. She did not tell him that the house might burn. She knelt and informed him that the horse was required in the yard at once. He came out solemnly and allowed her to carry him. When smoke rolled across the back stairs, she turned without hesitation and led the children through the linen room to the outside passage. The maid followed her, and then Mr Dall, still clutching the dining-room keys.

In the yard, Miss Calder counted the children twice before admitting that they were all there. By then, neighbours had arrived with buckets, and the fire was found confined to a beam beside the nursery chimney. Mrs Fane embraced Miss Calder and declared that her courage had saved the household. Miss Calder replied that the cook had opened the gate and Mr Dall had brought everyone out. Then she sat on the overturned water tub. Now that no one required an instruction, she discovered that her fingers could not unfasten the top button of her dress.

“Miss Calder’s calmness is presented as a form of leadership.”

Evaluate how successfully the writer presents this idea. Support your judgement with detailed references to the passage.