"The chimneys are all right, my dear. I took special pains with them
when the house was built. The only danger there ever was lay in that
little piece of inch board that happened to be too near the pipe."

"And how are we to know what other little pieces of board may be too
near? I think it's a very dangerous house to live in. If we hadn't gone
up to the attic when we did it would have been all in flames."

"And we shouldn't have gone to the attic at all if my windows had been
proof against the east wind."

"No, nor would you have known we were having a gale from the northeast
if I hadn't quoted the 'Wreck of the Hesperus.'"

[Illustration: NO CONCEALMENT OR DISGUISE.]

"Consequently we owe our preservation to the well-beloved poet."

"Moral: Study the poets."

"Moral number two: Build leaky casements."

"Number three: When the wood around a chimney takes fire it doesn't
prove a 'defective flue.'"

"Number four: A small fault hidden is more dangerous than a large one
in sight."

"Very true; and if modern builders had kept to the poet's standard,