48 GHOSTS,

drapery-folds. Not a corner was left uncovered.
The very floor was carpeted with holland. Nothing
could be more satisfactory, from the glass chan-
delier, whose tinted wax-lights threw a mellow
illumination over the whole, down to the polished
fire-irons, which caught the reflection and sent it
out again in a thousand fantastic gleams.

And the fire in the shining grate grew hotter
and hotter, for the servants had piled up coals
upon wood, and wood upon coals, and left them to
burn as they pleased. The air, too, being clear
and frosty (for it was winter-time), the draught
which swept through the large empty space from
the opened window at the farther end was just of
the kind to produce a blaze. “Flare up!” it
seemed to be saying to the fire. And the fire
flared accordingly, till the flames ran right round
the wooden logs, so that they crackled and spit,
and sent out sparks, which went up with the
general roar of the burning into the dark, black
chimney. |

You have heard the fire roar often enough, I
dare say, dear reader; but have you ever wondered