elapsed before he reached Aldersgate, and passing through the postern,
he beheld a light at the end of Saint Anne's-lane, and heard the
terrible voice of Solomon Eagle, calling to the sleepers to awake and
repent.

Shutting his ears to the cry, Leonard did not halt till he reached the
great western door of the cathedral, against which he knocked. His first
summons remaining unanswered, he repeated it, and a wicket was then
opened by a grey-headed verger, with a lantern in his hand, who at first
was very angry at being disturbed; but on learning whom the applicant
was in search of, and that the case was one of urgent necessity, he
admitted that the doctor was in the cathedral at the time.

"Or rather, I should say," he added, "he is in Saint Faith's. I will
conduct you to him, if you think proper. Doctor Hodges is a good man,--a
charitable man," he continued, "and attends the poor for nothing. He is
now with Matthew Malmayns, the sexton, who was taken ill of the plague
yesterday, and will get nothing but thanks--if he gets those--for his
fee. But, follow me, young man, follow me."

So saying, he shut the wicket, and led the way along the transept. The
path was uneven, many of the flags having been removed, and the verger
often paused to throw a light upon the ground, and warn his companion of
a hole.

On arriving at the head of the nave, Leonard cast his eyes down it, and
was surprised at the magical effect of the moonlight upon its
magnificent avenue of pillars; the massive shafts on the left being
completely illuminated by the silvery beams, while those on the right
lay in deep shadow.