English in literature

In November, a cold, silent stranger, whom the doctors call Mr pneumonia, moved quietly about the colony, touching one here and one there with his icy fingers. Mr pneumonia was not a polite old gentleman. Little Johns, her blood thinned by the warm California weather, was no match for that red-faced, short-breathed, old fellow. And so he touched Johns with his icy fingers,too; and she lay ill, scarcely moving on her old iron bed.."