As he spoke, the flames burst through the lower windows in a dense mass; and although the part of the building in which the manufacturer and his guest were standing was considerably to the east of that part on which the fire had taken its principal hold, there was sufficient palpable cause of danger to whiten the cheeks of both men, and to cause the proprietor—who had, of course, far less experience in such matters than the surveyor, Mr. Phillimore—to betray a degree of confusion which gave that worthy gentleman perhaps more anxiety than the fire alone could have done.
With a degree of calmness and self-possession worthy of the crisis, Mr. Phillimore asked Mr. Newton what means of escape they had, and implored him to be calm, as it might need all their self-possession as well as their courage to extricate themselves.
“Shall we leap out of the window?” exclaimed the embarrassed man.
“No,” was the firm reply.
“Do you think we can safely descend the staircase?”
“Let us try.”
The party then descended one flight of stairs, but found a dense vapour issuing up the staircase,—an impassable difficulty.
“We are lost!” exclaimed Mr. Newton.
The surveyor’s countenance betrayed intense anxiety as he apprehended that the terrified man’s ejaculation involved an awful truth.
“Let us seek the roof. Have you any rope at hand?”