Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Charles Franks
and the Distributed Proofreading Team
1876
As soon as supper was over in the housekeeper's room, Dorothy spedto the keep, where she found Caspar at work.
'My lord is not yet from supper, mistress,' he said. 'Will it pleaseyou wait while he comes?'
Had it been till midnight, so long as there was a chance of hisappearing, Dorothy would have waited. Caspar did his best to amuseher, and succeeded,—showing her one curious thing afteranother,—amongst the rest a watch that seemed to want no windingafter being once set agoing, but was in fact wound up a little byevery opening of the case to see the dial. All the while thefire-engine was at work on its mysterious task, with but now andthen a moment's attention from Caspar, a billet of wood or ashovelful of sea-coal on the fire, a pull at a cord, or a hint fromthe hooked rod. The time went rapidly.
Twilight was over, Caspar had lighted his lamp, and the moon hadrisen, before lord Herbert came.
'I am glad to find you have patience as well as punctuality in thecatalogue of your virtues, mistress Dorothy,' he said as he entered.'I too am punctual, and am therefore sorry to have failed now, butit is not my fault: I had to attend my father. For his sake pardonme.'
'It were but a small matter, my lord, even had it been uncompelled,to keep an idle girl waiting.'
'I think not so,' returned lord Herbert. 'But come now, I willexplain to you my wonderful fire-engine.'
As he spoke, he took her by the hand, and led her towards it. Thecreature blazed, groaned, and puffed, but there was no motion to beseen about it save that of the flames through the cracks in the doorof the furnace, neither was there any clanking noise of metal. Agreat rushing sound somewhere in the distance, that seemed to belongto it, yet appeared too far off to have any connection with it.
'It is a noisy thing,' he said, as they stood before it, 'bu