They passed before two chapels opposite to each other, belonging the one
to the Recreative Religionists, the other to the Hallelujah
League--sects which flourished then, and which exist to the present day.

Then the _cortege_ wound from street to street, making a zigzag,
choosing by preference lanes not yet built on, roads where the grass
grew, and deserted alleys.

At length it stopped.

It was in a little lane with no houses except two or three hovels. This
narrow alley was composed of two walls--one on the left, low; the other
on the right, high. The high wall was black, and built in the Saxon
style with narrow holes, scorpions, and large square gratings over
narrow loopholes. There was no window on it, but here and there slits,
old embrasures of _pierriers_ and archegayes. At the foot of this high
wall was seen, like the hole at the bottom of a rat-trap, a little
wicket gate, very elliptical in its arch.

This small door, encased in a full, heavy girding of stone, had a grated
peephole, a heavy knocker, a large lock, hinges thick and knotted, a
bristling of nails, an armour of plates, and hinges, so that altogether
it was more of iron than of wood.

There was no one in the lane--no shops, no passengers; but in it there
was heard a continual noise, as if the lane ran parallel to a torrent.
There was a tumult of voices and of carriages. It seemed as if on the
other side of the black edifice there must be a great street, doubtless
the principal street of Southwark, one end of which ran into the
Canterbury road, and the other on to London Bridge.

All the length of the lane, except the _cortege_ which surrounded
Gwynplaine, a watcher would have seen no other human face than the pale
profile of Ursus, hazarding a hall advance from the shadow of the corner
of the wall--looking, yet fearing to see. He had posted himself behind
the wall at a turn of the lane.

The constables grouped themselves before the wicket. Gwynplaine was in
the centre, the wapentake and his baton of iron being now behind him.

The justice of the quorum raised the knocker, and struck the door three
times. The loophole opened.

The justice of the quorum said,--

"By order of her Majesty."

The heavy door of oak and iron turned on its hinges, making a chilly
opening, like the mouth of a cavern. A hideous depth yawned in the
shadow.

Ursus saw Gwynplaine disappear within it.

CHAPTER V.

A FEARFUL PLACE.

The wapentake enter