'And who may you be ?' he asked.
'I shall tell you afterwards,' said I.

'Suffice it, in the meantime, that I come on business.' He seemed to digest my answer laboriously, his mouth gaping, his little eyes never straying from my face.
'Suffer me to point out to you, sir,' I resumed, 'that this is a devil of a wet morning; and that the chimney corner, and possibly a glass of something hot, are clearly indicated.' Indeed, the rain was now grown to be a deluge; the gutters of the house roared; the air was filled with the continuous, strident crash.

The stolidity of his face, on which the rain streamed, was far from reassuring me.

On the contrary, I was aware of a distinct qualm of apprehension, which was not at all lessened by a view of the driver, craning from his perch to observe us with the expression of a fascinated bird.

So we stood silent, when the prisoner again began to sneeze from the body of the cart; and at the sound, prompt as a transformation, the driver had whipped up his horses and was shambling off round the corner of the house, and Mr.Fenn, recovering his wits with a gulp, had turned to the door behind him.
'Come in, come in, sir,' he said.