“But hard words don’t hurt dead men; and you see, sir, poor Herbert is dead.”
“It is true. He wouldn’t feel aggrieved.”
“But we, sir, you and I, awaking—”
“Aren’t the others to awake, James?”
“Indeed, sir, I should pray that they had never awaked. For you and I, waking first, would find the lodge a mass of flames. We should have to run for our lives.”
“What! Should we make no effort to rouse the others?”
“Indeed, sir, we should do all that men could do; we should even risk death by suffocation.”
“But we should fail, in spite of our heroism, should we?”
“Alas, sir, in spite of all our efforts we should fail. The flames would envelop the lodge in one blaze; before help could come, the lodge would be in ruins, and my unhappy master and poor Herbert would be consumed to ashes.”
“Hum!”