"A sin!" exclaimed the priest, with a not very decent interjection, common in those days, but which cannot be admitted there; "no sin at all, but a good work. There, let me pass."
Arden made way and walked on, laughing, to the gate, where he found the porter just entering his own abode, and saying good night to one of the servants, who had been sitting with him.
"Why, you have not closed the gates for the night, have you, porter?" said Arden, standing in the door-way of the lodge, so as to oppose the egress of either of the two.
"Yes, indeed, I have, worshipful sir," replied the man.
"Why, the priest will have to go forth," said Arden.
"Not he," cried the porter, with a laugh, which was echoed by the other servant. "After he has done his function, he'll get as drunk as a fiddler, and sleep on one of the truckle beds. I should not wonder if I had him here knocking for accommodation; but he shall not have it."
As he spoke, he deliberately hung the keys upon a peg, just at the side of the door.
"These are large keys," said Sir William, taking them down, to the man's surprise, and fixing in his own mind upon the one which he supposed to belong to the door of the lodge.
"Yes, they are, sir," answered the porter, somewhat gruffly. "Be pleased to give them to me. I never suffer them out of my hands."
"Back, knave! Would you snatch them from me," exclaimed Arden, thrusting him vehemently back; and the next moment he pulled the door to, by the large bowed handle, and applied the key to the lock. It did not prove the right one, however; and he had some difficulty in holding the door close, against the united efforts of the two men in the inside, till he had found one to fit the keyhole.