reconnoitre, at night, with a lantern, and, of course, with black
whiskers. The two well-dressed men on the stairs (Grewgious, or
Tartar, and Crisparkle) also, according to Mr. Cuming Walters,
"relate to Jasper's unaccountable expedition with Durdles to the
Cathedral." Neither of them is Jasper; neither of them is Durdles,
"in a suit of coarse flannel"--a disreputable jacket, as Sir L.
Fildes depicts him--"with horn buttons," and a battered old tall
hat. These interpretations are quite demonstrably erroneous and
even impossible. Mr. Archer interprets the designs exactly as I
do.

As to the young man in the light of Jasper's lamp, Mr. Cuming
Walters says, "the large hat and the tightly-buttoned surtout must
be observed; they are the articles of clothing on which most stress
is laid in the description of Datchery. But the face is young."
The face of Datchery was elderly, and he had a huge shock of white
hair, a wig. Datchery wore "a tightish blue surtout, with a buff
waistcoat and grey trousers; he had something of a military air."
The young man in the vault has anything but a military air; he
shows no waistcoat, and he does not wear "a tightish blue surtout,"
or any surtout at all.

The surtout of the period is shown, worn by Jasper, in Sir L.
Fildes's sixth and ninth illustrations. It is a frock-coat; the
collar descends far below the top of the waistcoat (buff or
otherwise), displaying that garment; the coat is tightly buttoned
beneath, revealing the figure; the tails of the coat do not reach
the knees of the wearer. The young man in the vault, on the other
hand, wears a loose paletot, buttoned to the throat (vaults are
chilly places), and the coat falls so as to cover the knees; at