"Look," said one of four gentlemen, who were walking towards Temple Bar from the Strand12. "Look! Is not that lovely?"
"Yes," said another. "A million fires are out in London now, and one can see the blue sky as it was seen when—"
"But, after all," said another, "I prefer good broad cloth to red ochre. What say you, Sir Richard?"
"I am of your lordship's opinion," said Sir Richard Blunt, who was one of the party of four: "I certainly think we have gained something by not being Ancient Britons any longer than was absolutely necessary. This is, in truth, a most splendid night."
"It is—it is," they all said.
By this time, strolling along in an independent sort of fashion, they had reached Temple Bar, and then Sir Richard, bowing to the one who had not yet made any sort of remark, said—
"Mr. Villimay, you have not forgotten the keys?"
"Oh no, Sir Richard; oh no."
"Then, gentlemen, we are very near our place of destination. It will be advisable that we look about us, and use the utmost precaution, to be sure that we are not watched by any one."
"Yes—yes," said the other. "You will be the best judge of that Sir Richard; with your tact14, you will be able to come to a conclusion upon that subject much better than we can."
Sir Richard Blunt made a slight kind of bow in acknowledgment of the compliment to his tact, and then, while what we may call the main body waited under the arch of Temple Bar, he advanced alone into Fleet Street. After advancing for a short distance, he took from his pocket a small silver whistle, and produced upon it a peculiar15 thrilling note. In a moment a tall man, with a great coat on him, merged16 from behind a column that lent its support to a door-way.
"Here you is," said the man.
"Is all right, Crotchet?" said Sir Richard.
"Yes; everything is quiet enough. Not a blessed mouse hasn't wagged his tail or smoothened his whiskers for the last half hour or so."
"Very good, Crotchet. I'm afraid, though, I cannot dismiss you just yet, as the business is very important."
"What's the odds," said Crotchet, "as long as you are happy?"
Sir Richard Blunt smiled, as he added—
"Well, Crotchet, you deserve, and you shall have an ample reward for the services you are doing and have done, in this affair. I and some gentlemen will go into the church, and I wish you to remain at the porch, and if you find occasion to give any warning, I think your whistle will be quite shrill17 enough to reach my ears."
"Not a doubt on it, Sir Richard. If what they calls the last trumpet18 is only half as loud as my last whistle, it will wake up the coves19, and no mistake."
"Very good, Crotchet. Only don't make any profane20 allusions21 in the hearing of the gentlemen with me, for one of them is the Under Secretary of State, and the other two are men of account. We have to meet some one else in the church."
"Then he hasn't come."
"That's awkward. The Lord Mayor was to meet us. Ah! who is this?"
A private carriage stopped on the other side of the way, and some one alighted, and a voice cried—
"Go home now, Samuel, and put up the horses. I shall not want you any more to-night. Go home."
"Shan't we call anywhere for you, my lord?" said Samuel, the coachman.
"No—no, I say. Go away at once."
"That's the Lord Mayor," said Sir Richard. "He is pretty true to his time."
As he spoke22, Sir Richard crossed the road, and addressed the chief magistrate23 of the city, saying—
"A fine night, my lord."
"Oh, Sir Richard, is that you? Well, I am very glad to meet with you so soon. If I were to tell you the difficulty I have had to get here, you would not believe me. Indeed you could not."
"Really, my lord."
"Yes. You must know, Sir Richard, between you and I, and—and"—Here the Lord Mayor, who did not like to say post, looked about him, and his eyes falling upon Temple Bar, added—"Bar, I say; between you and me and the Bar, the Lady Mayoress, although a most excellent woman—indeed I may say an admirable woman—has at times her little faults of temper. You understand?"
"Who is without?" said Sir Richard.
"Ah, who indeed—who indeed, Sir Richard. That is a very sensible remark of yours. Who is without? as you justly enough say."
"The Lord Mayor!" said Sir Richard, who had been gradually leading his lordship to Temple Bar, and now announced his arrival to the three gentlemen who were there in waiting.
The three gentlemen professed24 themselves to be quite delighted to see the Lord Mayor, and the Lord Mayor professed to be quite in raptures25 to see the three gentlemen, so that a pleasanter party than they all made, could not have been imagined.
"Now," said Sir Richard Blunt, "I think, with all deference26, gentlemen, that the sooner we proceed to business the better."
"Yes, yes," said Mr. Villimay, who was the senior churchwarden. "Oh, yes—certainly."
"And yet," said the Lord Mayor, "we must be very cautious."
"Oh, very—very cautious," cried Villimay.
"But a bold front is the best," remarked Sir Richard.
"Yes. As you say, sir, there's nothing like a bold front," cried Villimay.
Sir Richard, with a quiet smile, said to the under secretary—
"A very obliging person, you perceive, Mr. Villimay is."
"Oh, very," laughed the secretary.
Preceded now by the churchwarden, they all made their way towards the church, but the watchman at the corner of Chancery Lane must have had something upon his mind, he was so very wakeful, for after they had all passed but Crotchet, he looked out of his box, and said—"Thieves!"
"What's that to you?" said Crotchet, facing him with a look of defiance27, "eh? Can't you be quiet when you is told?"
"Hark ye, old pump," said Crotchet. "I've settled eight watchmen atween this here and Charing30 Cross, and you'll make nine, if you opens your mouth again."
"Eight, did you say?"
"Yes."
Crotchet took the lantern off its hook in front of the box, and smashed it upon the head of the guardian32 of the night, whereupon the aforesaid guardian shrank completely down to the bottom of the box, with the fragments of the lantern hanging about him, and said not another word.
"I rather think," said Mr. Crotchet to himself, "as I've settled that old fellow comfortable."
With this conviction upon his mind—the amiability33 or the non-amiability of which we shall not stop to discuss—Mr. Crotchet ran hastily after the rest of the party, and stationed himself by the church porch, according to orders. By this time, Mr. Villimay, the churchwarden, had produced a little gothic-looking key, and proceeding34 to a small side door, he, after some rattling35, partly consequent upon the lock being in a state of desuetude36, and partly from personal nervousness, he did succeed in turning the rusty37 wards11, and then, with an ominous38 groan39, the door yielded. Sir Richard Blunt had quite satisfied himself that there were no eaves-droppers at hand, so he was anxious to get the party housed—perhaps in this instance churched would be a more appropriate expression.
"Gentlemen," he said, "the night is stealing past, and we have much to do."
"That is true, Sir Richard," said the secretary. "Come on, Donkin, and let us get through it."
The Lord Mayor shook a little as he passed through the little door, last, having, although king of the city, given the pas to every one of his companions, upon that most mysterious mission to old St. Dunstan's church at such an hour. Perhaps he had a faint hope that they might leave him entirely behind, and shut the door precipitately40, so that he could not get in. If he had any such hope, however, it was doomed41, like too many human hopes, to bitter disappointment, for Sir Richard Blunt held the door open for him, saying blandly—
"Now, my lord. We could not get on without you."
"Oh, thank you—thank you. You are very good."
The Lord Mayor crossed the threshold, and then Mr. Villimay, who had occupied a remote and mysterious position at the back of the door, closed it, and locked it on the inside.
"If—if you were to lose the key, Mr. Villimay?" said the Lord Mayor.
"Why, then," interposed Sir Richard Blunt, "I'm afraid we should have to stay there until Sunday, unless some couple kindly42 got married in the meantime."
The Lord Mayor gave a very odd kind of cough, as he said—
"What would the Lady Mayoress say?"
The air without had been cold, but what was that compared with the coldness within? At least, the street breeze had been dry, but in the church there was such a fearful dampness pervading43 the narrow passage in which the party found itself, that every one felt as though his very marrow44 was cold.
"This passage," said Mr. Villimay, "hasn't been opened for many a long day."
"Indeed!" said the secretary.
"No, my lord, it has not: and it's only a wonder that, after a good hunt in the vestry cupboard, I at all found the key of it."
"Fortunate that you did," said Sir Richard Blunt, who was all this time making exertions45 to procure46 a light, which were as often defeated by the dampness of the air. At length he was successful in igniting a piece of wax candle, and he said—
"Gentlemen, this will show us our way through the church to the vestry, where we can get lanthorns."
"Yes," said the Lord Mayor, who was getting so nervous that he thought himself called upon to make some reply to anything and anybody. "Yes, lanthorns in the vestry."
"Well," said the secretary, "my Lord Mayor, your mayoralty will be distinguished47 by this dreadful affair for all time to come."
"Many thanks to your lordship, it will."
The secretary smiled as he whispered to his friend Donkin—
"The city magistrate don't seem happy, Donkin."
"Far from it."
At the end of the little narrow, damp, gloomy, cobwebby passage in which they were, was another little door, the upper half of which was of highly ornamented48 iron fret49 work, the side of which next to the church interior being gilt50. This door likewise yielded to a key which Mr. Villimay produced, and then they found themselves at once in the western aisle51 of the church.
"The stench don't seem so bad," said Sir Richard.
"No, sir," said Villimay. "We have got all the windows open far up above there, and there's quite a current of air, too, right up the belfry."
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1
edifice
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| n.宏伟的建筑物(如宫殿，教室) | |
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2
sonorous
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| adj.响亮的，回响的；adv.圆润低沉地；感人地；n.感人，堂皇 | |
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3
snugly
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| adv.紧贴地；贴身地；暖和舒适地；安适地 | |
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4
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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5
destitute
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| adj.缺乏的；穷困的 | |
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6
crevices
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| n.（尤指岩石的）裂缝，缺口( crevice的名词复数 ) | |
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7
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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8
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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9
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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10
lone
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| adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的 | |
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11
wards
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| 区( ward的名词复数 )； 病房； 受监护的未成年者； 被人照顾或控制的状态 | |
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12
strand
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| vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地） | |
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13
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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14
tact
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| n.机敏，圆滑，得体 | |
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15
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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merged
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| （使）混合( merge的过去式和过去分词 )； 相融； 融入； 渐渐消失在某物中 | |
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shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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trumpet
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| n.喇叭，喇叭声；v.吹喇叭，吹嘘 | |
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19
coves
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| n.小海湾( cove的名词复数 )；家伙 | |
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profane
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| adj.亵神的，亵渎的；vt.亵渎，玷污 | |
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allusions
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| 暗指，间接提到( allusion的名词复数 ) | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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magistrate
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| n.地方行政官，地方法官，治安官 | |
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professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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raptures
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| 极度欢喜( rapture的名词复数 ) | |
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26
deference
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| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
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defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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fumble
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| vi.笨拙地用手摸、弄、接等，摸索 | |
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rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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30
charing
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| n.炭化v.把…烧成炭，把…烧焦( char的现在分词 )；烧成炭，烧焦；做杂役女佣 | |
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31
appalled
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| v.使惊骇，使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的；丧胆的 | |
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32
guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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33
amiability
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| n.和蔼可亲的，亲切的，友善的 | |
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proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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35
rattling
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| adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词 | |
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36
desuetude
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| n.废止，不用 | |
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37
rusty
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| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
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ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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39
groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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40
precipitately
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| adv.猛进地 | |
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41
doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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42
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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pervading
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的现在分词 ) | |
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marrow
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| n.骨髓；精华；活力 | |
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45
exertions
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| n.努力( exertion的名词复数 )；费力；（能力、权力等的）运用；行使 | |
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46
procure
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| vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条 | |
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47
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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48
ornamented
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| adj.花式字体的v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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49
fret
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| v.(使)烦恼；(使)焦急；(使)腐蚀，(使)磨损 | |
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50
gilt
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| adj.镀金的；n.金边证券 | |
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51
aisle
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| n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道 | |
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