atmosphere was too thick to let any one forget the obstacle
which had turned them. It grew stifling, breathed so long, and
it did not clear away; but though every one noticed this, no
one spoke of it to his neighbour. Then at last it began to
weigh down more heavily upon the forest, and visible puffs and
curls in the dense blue suggested that its substance was
becoming more palpable.

'Rollo--', said Mr. Falkirk in an undertone.

'Yes!' said the other, just as the coach again came to a
sudden stop and a volley of exclamations, smothered and not
smothered, sounded from the coach box. Both gentlemen sprang
out.

'Good patience!' said the older of the two women, 'it's the
fire again! it's all round us! O I wisht I hadn't a'come! I
wisht I was to hum!'--and she showed the earnestness of the
wish by beginning to cry. Her companion sat still and turned
very pale. Paler yet, but with every nerve braced, Wych Hazel
stood in the road to see for herself. The gentlemen were
consulting.

The fire had closed in upon the road they had passed over an
hour or two before. There it was, smoking, and breathing
along, gathering strength every minute; while a low, murmuring
roar told of its out-of-sight progress. What was to be done?
The driver declared, on being pressed, that a branch road, the
Lupin road it was called, was to his knowledge but a little
distance before them; a quarter of an hour would reach it.