"A fine night, my lord."
"Oh, Sir Richard, is that you? Well, I am very glad to meet with you so soon. If I were to tell you the difficulty I have had to get here, you would not believe me. Indeed you could not."
"Really, my lord."
"Yes. You must know, Sir Richard, between you and I, and—and"—Here the Lord Mayor, who did not like to say post, looked about him, and his eyes falling upon Temple Bar, added—"Bar, I say; between you and me and the Bar, the Lady Mayoress, although a most excellent woman—indeed I may say an admirable woman—has at times her little faults of temper. You understand?"
"Who is without?" said Sir Richard.
"Ah, who indeed—who indeed, Sir Richard. That is a very sensible remark of yours. Who is without? as you justly enough say."
"The Lord Mayor!" said Sir Richard, who had been gradually leading his lordship to Temple Bar, and now announced his arrival to the three gentlemen who were there in waiting.
The three gentlemen professed themselves to be quite delighted to see the Lord Mayor, and the Lord Mayor professed to be quite in raptures to see the three gentlemen, so that a pleasanter party than they all made, could not have been imagined.
"Now," said Sir Richard Blunt, "I think, with all deference, gentlemen, that the sooner we proceed to business the better."
"Yes, yes," said Mr. Villimay, who was the senior churchwarden. "Oh, yes—certainly."