Barnaby Rudge | Page 6

could, in one sense at least, be by no means
gainsaid, seeing that he was in everything unquestionably the reverse of
fast, and withal one of the most dogged and positive fellows in
existence--always sure that what he thought or said or did was right,

and holding it as a thing quite settled and ordained by the laws of
nature and Providence, that anybody who said or did or thought
otherwise must be inevitably and of necessity wrong.
Mr Willet walked slowly up to the window, flattened his fat nose
against the cold glass, and shading his eyes that his sight might not be
affected by the ruddy glow of the fire, looked abroad. Then he walked
slowly back to his old seat in the chimney-corner, and, composing
himself in it with a slight shiver, such as a man might give way to and
so acquire an additional relish for the warm blaze, said, looking round
upon his guests:
'It'll clear at eleven o'clock. No sooner and no later. Not before and not
arterwards.'
'How do you make out that?' said a little man in the opposite corner.
'The moon is past the full, and she rises at nine.'
John looked sedately and solemnly at his questioner until he had
brought his mind to bear upon the whole of his observation, and then
made answer, in a tone which seemed to imply that the moon was
peculiarly his business and nobody else's:
'Never you mind about the moon. Don't you trouble yourself about her.
You let the moon alone, and I'll let you alone.'
'No offence I hope?' said the little man.
Again John waited leisurely until the observation had thoroughly
penetrated to his brain, and then replying, 'No offence as YET,' applied
a light to his pipe and smoked in placid silence; now and then casting a
sidelong look at a man wrapped in a loose riding- coat with huge cuffs
ornamented with tarnished silver lace and large metal buttons, who sat
apart from the regular frequenters of the house, and wearing a hat
flapped over his face, which was still further shaded by the hand on
which his forehead rested, looked unsociable enough.
There was another guest, who sat, booted and spurred, at some distance

from the fire also, and whose thoughts--to judge from his folded arms
and knitted brows, and from the untasted liquor before him--were
occupied with other matters than the topics under discussion or the
persons who discussed them. This was a young man of about
eight-and-twenty, rather above the middle height, and though of
somewhat slight figure, gracefully and strongly made. He wore his own
dark hair, and was accoutred in a riding dress, which together with his
large boots (resembling in shape and fashion those worn by our Life
Guardsmen at the present day), showed indisputable traces of the bad
condition of the roads. But travel- stained though he was, he was well
and even richly attired, and without being overdressed looked a gallant
gentleman.
Lying upon the table beside him, as he had carelessly thrown them
down, were a heavy riding-whip and a slouched hat, the latter worn no
doubt as being best suited to the inclemency of the weather. There, too,
were a pair of pistols in a holster-case, and a short riding-cloak. Little
of his face was visible, except the long dark lashes which concealed his
downcast eyes, but an air of careless ease and natural gracefulness of
demeanour pervaded the figure, and seemed to comprehend even those
slight accessories, which were all handsome, and in good keeping.
Towards this young gentleman the eyes of Mr Willet wandered but
once, and then as if in mute inquiry whether he had observed his silent
neighbour. It was plain that John and the young gentleman had often
met before. Finding that his look was not returned, or indeed observed
by the person to whom it was addressed, John gradually concentrated
the whole power of his eyes into one focus, and brought it to bear upon
the man in the flapped hat, at whom he came to stare in course of time
with an intensity so remarkable, that it affected his fireside cronies,
who all, as with one accord, took their pipes from their lips, and stared
with open mouths at the stranger likewise.
The sturdy landlord had a large pair of dull fish-like eyes, and the little
man who had hazarded the remark about the moon (and who was the
parish-clerk and bell-ringer of Chigwell, a village hard by) had little
round black shiny eyes like beads; moreover this little man wore at the

knees of his rusty black breeches, and on his rusty black coat, and all
down his long flapped waistcoat, little queer buttons like nothing
except his eyes; but so like them,