Gerald went to the window and lifted the blind. Then he turned to us.
"I say," he said in an unusual voice, "come here a minute."
We drew up the blind and surveyed the scene before us.
Two minutes before the moon had shone upon an untrodden expanse of snow. Now the Close was black with people. There must have been two or three thousand. They stood there in the gleaming moonlight, silent, motionless, like an army of phantoms. At their head and forefront—I could see the moonlight glitter on his watch-chain, which lay in a most favourable position for lunar reflection—stood the newly elected Member for Stoneleigh, Mr Alderman Stridge.
Simultaneously there was a knock at the door, and the hall-porter of the hotel appeared.
"Mr Stridge's compliments, sir, and he would like to have a word with you."
"Go down quickly, Adrian," said Kitty anxiously. "They'll wake Philly!"
I descended without a word, and passed out into the Close from a French window on the ground floor.
I glanced up in the direction of our rooms and noticed that my party were standing on the balcony outside the sitting-room. I could see Kitty's anxious face. But she need have had no fear.
Mr Stridge advanced towards me, silk hat in hand. Behind him stood a variety of Stoneleigh worthies, and I had time to notice that the group was composed of an indiscriminate mixture of friends and foes.