The Old Man's Gratification of the Cottage

The old man led me to a chair beside the fire with a grudgingness that suggested it was the very one he had just vacated. He thought about this for a moment, then said, well, you'd better come in. I found myself in a cramped, untidy room full of rough wood and broken furniture. A log burning in the fireplace was the only source of light by which I could make out a number of hunched figures sitting around the room. For a moment I just stared into its flames, a pleasant grogginess drifting over me.