Biggleswade's thermos bottle, and put it to his lips; and then they
wrapped him up warm in some of their own woollen undergarments, and took
him into the kitchen and placed him on a bed made of their fur coats in
front of the fire. As the last piece of fuel was exhausted they took one
of the wooden chairs and broke it up and cast it into the blaze. And
then they raised the dead man from the strip of carpet and carried him
into the bedroom and laid him reverently by the side of his dead wife,
after which they left the dead in darkness and returned to the living.
And the three grave men stood over the wisp of flesh that had been born
a male into the world. Then, their task being accomplished, reaction
came, and even Doyne, who had seen death in many lands, turned faint.
But the others, losing control of their nerves, shook like men stricken
with palsy.

Suddenly McCurdie cried in a high pitched voice, "My God! Don't you feel
it?" and clutched Doyne by the arm. An expression of terror appeared on
his iron features.

"There! It's here with us."

Little Professor Biggleswade sat on a corner of the table and wiped his
forehead.

"I heard it. I felt it. It was like the beating of wings."

"It's the fourth time," said McCurdie. "The first time was just before I
accepted the Deverills' invitation. The second in the railway carriage
this afternoon. The third on the way here. This is the fourth."

Biggleswade plucked nervously at the fringe of whisker under his jaws