a single sentence without shaking me to the very centre
with roaring Fire. We ran down to the drawing-room
and put our heads out of window, and the Major calls
to an unfeeling young monkey, scampering by be joyful
and ready to split “Where is it?—Fire!”
The monkey answers without stopping “O here’s
a lark! Old Buffle’s been setting his
house alight to prevent its being found out that he
boned the Taxes. Hurrah! Fire!”
And then the sparks came flying up and the smoke
came pouring down and the crackling of flames and spatting
of water and banging of engines and hacking of axes
and breaking of glass and knocking at doors and the
shouting and crying and hurrying and the heat and
altogether gave me a dreadful palpitation. “Don’t
be frightened dearest madam,” says the Major,
“—Fire! There’s nothing
to be alarmed at—Fire! Don’t
open the street door till I come back—Fire!
I’ll go and see if I can be of any service—Fire!
You’re quite composed and comfortable ain’t
you?—Fire, Fire, Fire!” It was in
vain for me to hold the man and tell him he’d
be galloped to death by the engines—pumped
to death by his over-exertions—wet-feeted
to death by the slop and mess—flattened
to death when the roofs fell in—his spirit
was up and he went scampering off after the young
monkey with all the breath he had and none to spare,
and me and the girls huddled together at the parlour
windows looking at the dreadful flames above the houses
over the way, Mr. Buffle’s being round the corner.
Presently what should we see but some people running
down the street straight to our door, and then the
Major directing operations in the busiest way, and
then some more people and then—carried in
a chair similar to Guy Fawkes—Mr. Buffle
in a blanket!
My dear the Major has Mr. Buffle brought up our steps
and whisked into the parlour and carted out on the
sofy, and then he and all the rest of them without
so much as a word burst away again full speed leaving
the impression of a vision except for Mr. Buffle awful
in his blanket with his eyes a rolling. In a
twinkling they all burst back again with Mrs. Buffle
in another blanket, which whisked in and carted out
on the sofy they all burst off again and all burst
back again with Miss Buffle in another blanket, which
again whisked in and carted out they all burst off
again and all burst back again with Mr. Buffle’s
articled young gentleman in another blanket—him
a holding round the necks of two men carrying him
by the legs, similar to the picter of the disgraceful
creetur who has lost the fight (but where the chair
I do not know) and his hair having the appearance
of newly played upon. When all four of a row,
the Major rubs his hands and whispers me with what
little hoarseness he can get together, “If our
dear remarkable boy was only at home what a delightful
treat this would be for him!”