Gazing into the windows, they frequently got into the way,
and were saluted many times with the query, "Where are you going,
stupids?" a question which Hugh was largely inclined to resent, and
would have done so had not Rupert told him that evidently they did
get into the way of the hurrying citizens, and that it was more
wise to put up with rudeness than to embark in a series of
quarrels, in which, moreover, as strangers they were likely to get
the worst of the dispute. Saint Paul's Cathedral, then but newly
finished, astonished them vastly with its size and magnificence,
and they returned to the midday dinner at the Bell delighted with
all that they had seen.
Asking the landlord how he would recommend them to pass the
afternoon, he said that they could do no better than take a boat at
London Bridge, and be rowed up to the village of Chelsea, where
many of the nobility did dwell, and then coming back to Westminster
might get out there, see the Abbey and the great Hall, and then
walk back along the Strand.
The lads followed the advice, and were soon delighted and surprised
with the great river, then pure and limpid, and covered with boats
proceeding rapidly in all directions, for it was at that time the
great highway of London. Tide was flowing and the river nearly
full, and having given their waterman the intimation that time did
not press, he rowed them very gently along in the centre of the
stream, pointing out to them, when they had passed above the limits
of the city, the various noblemen's houses scattered along the
banks of the river.
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