Chapter 1
The Strange Man's Arrival

The alien came early in Feb one wintry day, through a biting
wind and a drive snow, the last snow of the year, over the
down, walking as it seemed from Bramblehurst railway station and
carrying a little black portmanteau in his thickly gauntleted hand. He
was wrapped up from head to foot, and the brim of his soft felt hat
hid every inch of his face but the shiny tip of his nose; the snow
had heaped itself against his shoulders and chest, and accessorial a white
crest to the burden he carried. He staggered into the Coach and
Horses, much dead than alive as it seemed, and flung his portmanteau
down. "A fire," he cried, "in the name of human charity! A room and
a fire!" He sealed and barrel the snow from off hims