Page 381 - bleak-house

Upon the Saturday we sat here, Mr. Jarndyce, Ada, and I,
until we heard thunder muttering in the distance and felt
the large raindrops rattle through the leaves.
The weather had been all the week extremely sultry, but
the storm broke so suddenly—upon us, at least, in that shel-
tered spot—that before we reached the outskirts of the wood
the thunder and lightning were frequent and the rain came
plunging through the leaves as if every drop were a great
leaden bead. As it was not a time for standing among trees,
we ran out of the wood, and up and down the moss-grown
steps which crossed the plantation-fence like two broad-
staved ladders placed back to back, and made for a keeper’s
lodge which was close at hand. We had often noticed the
dark beauty of this lodge standing in a deep twilight of
trees, and how the ivy clustered over it, and how there was a
steep hollow near, where we had once seen the keeper’s dog
dive down into the fern as if it were water.
The lodge was so dark within, now the sky was over-
cast, that we only clearly saw the man who came to the door
when we took shelter there and put two chairs for Ada and
me. The lattice-windows were all thrown open, and we sat
just within the doorway watching the storm. It was grand
to see how the wind awoke, and bent the trees, and drove
the rain before it like a cloud of smoke; and to hear the sol-
emn thunder and to see the lightning; and while thinking
with awe of the tremendous powers by which our little lives
are encompassed, to consider how beneficent they are and
how upon the smallest flower and leaf there was already a
freshness poured from all this seeming rage which seemed

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