The south-window fire-cradle
Written for readers who have finished Book 1.
The south-window fire-cradle is the small iron mechanism of the kept light: a handful of coals held at a low heat beneath the copper kettle so it can throw its warm glow into the window through the dark, long after the main hearth is banked for the night. A little thing, kept clean and ready by every keeper — and lit, when at last it is lit, on purpose, for whoever out on the cold road might look back and see it.
