Fenn, who was at the moment passing below in the court, cast up his arms like one in despair, called to me to keep back, plunged into the house, and appeared next moment in the doorway of the chamber.
'Oh, sir!' says he, 'keep away from those there windows.

A body might see you from the back lane.' 'It is registered,' said I.

'Henceforward I will be a mouse for precaution and a ghost for invisibility.

But in the meantime, for God's sake, fetch us a bottle of brandy! Your room is as damp as the bottom of a well, and these gentlemen are perishing of cold.' So soon as I had paid him (for everything, I found, must be paid in advance), I turned my attention to the fire, and whether because I threw greater energy into the business, or because the coals were now warmed and the time ripe, I soon started a blaze that made the chimney roar again.

The shine of it, in that dark, rainy day, seemed to reanimate the Colonel like a blink of sun.