Just so.' "The upshot was that in twenty minutes we had the whole thing put to rights.

I set the General breaking up boxes and had the Bishop rake out the clinkers, and very soon we had the furnace going and the boiler in operation.
"'But now tell me,' said the Bishop, 'suppose one wanted to let the furnace out--suppose, I mean to say, that it was summer-time, and suppose one rather felt that one didn't care about a furnace and yet one wanted one's boiler going for one's hot water, and that sort of thing, what would one do ?' "'In that case,' I said, 'you couldn't run your heating off your furnace: you'd have to connect in your tubing with a gas generator.' "'Ah, there you get me rather beyond my depth,' said the Bishop.
"The General shook his head.

'Bishop,' he said, 'just step upstairs a minute; I have an idea.' "They went up together, leaving me below.

To my surprise and consternation, as they reached the top of the cellar stairs, I saw the General swing the door shut and heard a key turn in the lock.

I rushed to the top of the stairs and tried in vain to open the door.