And without laying down the bulb which he already held, Baerle went to the fireplace, knelt down and stirred with the tip of his finger the ashes, which fortunately were quite cold.
He at once felt the other bulb.
“Well, here it is,” he said; and, looking at it with almost fatherly affection, he exclaimed, “Uninjured as the first!”
At this very instant, and whilst Cornelius, still on his knees, was examining his pets, the door of the dry-room was so violently shaken, and opened in such a brusque manner, that Cornelius felt rising in his cheeks and his ears the glow of that evil counsellor which is called wrath.
“Now, what is it again,” he demanded; “are people going mad here?”
“Oh, sir! sir!” cried the servant, rushing into the dry-room with a much paler face and with a much more frightened mien than Craeke had shown.
“Well!” asked Cornelius, foreboding some mischief from the double breach of the strict rule of his house.
“Oh, sir, fly! fly quick!” cried the servant.
“Fly! and what for?”
“Sir, the house is full of the guards of the States.”