Simile: Mr. White's face
Jacobs compares Mr. White's face when he learns his son is dead to that of Morris's visage when he went into battle: "...on the husband's face was a look such as his friend the sergeant might have carried into his first action."
Metaphor: Knocks
Jacobs describes the (putative) dead Herbert's knocks on the door as a "perfect fusillade." This evocation of artillery, of war, enhances the terror of the moment. It raises the scene to an epic battle between the forces of darkness and fate and the diminutive figures of Mr. and Mrs. White.
