n, give him absolution and anoint him: next, that we would
disguise him in a great periwig and a gown, such as the Protestant
Divines wore--(for, as I spoke, I actually spied such a gown hanging on
the wall of the chamber in which I was speaking with him). Third, that
another priest could go to St. James' and bring the Most Holy Sacrament
to him from there.

At that point Father Bento de Lemoz, who was listening to our talk,
came forward and interposed. He would get a little Ritual directly, he
said (in very poor English)--that had in it all that was necessary: and
he would go himself, not to St. James', for that was too far off, but to
Somerset House, and get the Holy Sacrament from the royal chapel there.
Mr. Huddleston had nothing to say to that; and in five minutes we had
him in his periwig and gown, with the book in his pocket, with the holy
oils, and away downstairs, and along the passage beneath, and up again
by the little winding stair into the chamber beyond the King's bed. I
gave him no time to think of any more objections.

* * * * *

That was a very strange vigil that we held for very near, I should
think, twenty minutes or half an hour. We both sat there together
without speaking. For the most of the time Mr. Huddleston was reading in
his Ritual, and I could see his brow furrowed and his lips moving, as be
conned over all that he would have to do and say to His Majesty. He was
a man, as he had said, completely unaccustomed to such ministrations,
though he was a very good man and a good priest too, in other matters.
After a while he laid aside his book, and prayed, I think, for he
covered his face with his hands.

* * * * *

A minute or two later I could bear the delay no longer. I rose and went
up the three or four steps that led to the King's Bedchamber, and
listened. There was a low murmur of voices within; so that it seemed to
me that the room was not yet cleared. I put my hand upon the door and
pushed it a little; and to my satisfaction it was not latched, but
opened an inch or two. But someone was standing immediately on the other
side of it. I stepped back, and the door opened again just enough for me
to see the face of Mr. Chiffinch. He looked past me quickly to see that
the priest was there, I suppose, and then nodded at me two or three
times. Then he pushed the door almost to, again. A moment after I heard
the Duke's voice within, a