was that meteorites might be falling in a heavy shower upon the planet , or that a huge volcanic explosion was in progress .
Now she had got to love the old nursery , though it was but a dismantled place ; and she lookedlookall round , with a kind of cat-like regretregret, at the ideaideaof leaving it for ever in three days .
It was May , and the weather was warm for the season ; but Lucilla had caused the firefireto be lighted in the large gloomy library where Dr Marjoribanks always sat in the evenings , with the ideaideathat it would be " a comfort " to him ; and , for the same reason , she had orderedordertea to be served there , instead of the dinner , for which her father , as she imaginedimagine, could have little appetite .
When Mrs. Hall wentgoto clear away the stranger 's lunch , her ideaideathat his mouth must also have been cut or disfigured in the accident she supposed him to have suffered , was confirmedconfirm, for he was smokingsmokea pipe , and all the time that she was in the room he never loosened the silk muffler he had wrapped round the lower part of his face to putputthe mouthpiece to his lips .