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| 1 | 236 | 472 | 708 | 944 |
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Gwynplaine, in spite of his bewildered state, in which he felt quite
overcome, remarked the gorgeously-attired footmen, and asked the Usher
of the Black Rod,--
"Whose livery is that?"
He answered,--
"
Yours, my lord."
The House of Lords was to sit that evening. Curia erat serena, run the
old records. In England parliamentary work is by preference undertaken
at night. It once happened that Sheridan began a speech at midnight and
finished it at sunrise.
The two postchaises returned to Windsor. Gwynplaine's carriage set out
for London. This ornamented four-horse carriage proceeded at a walk from
Brentford to London, as befitted the dignity of the coachman.
Gwynplaine's servitude to ceremony was beginning in the shape of his
solemn-looking coachman. The delay was, moreover, apparently
prearranged; and we shall see presently its probable motive.
Night was falling, though it was not quite dark, when the carriage
stopped at the King's Gate, a large sunken door between two turrets
connecting Whitehall with Westminster. The escort of gentlemen
pensioners formed a circle around the carriage. A footman jumped down
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