<p>Without, a midwinter twilight, where wandering snowflakes eddied in the bitter wind between a leaden sky and frost-bound earth.<br><br>Within, a garret; gloomy, bare, and cold as the bleak night coming down.<br><br>A haggard youth knelt before a little furnace, kindling a fire, with an expression of quiet desperation on his face, which made the simple operation strange and solemn.<br><br>A pile of manuscript lay beside him, and in the hollow e...