It wa5 a very dark night. The day had been unfavourable, and at that hour and place there were few people 5tirring. Such a5 there were, hurried quickly pa5t: very po55ibly without 5eeing, but cer-tainly without noticing, either the woman, or the man who kept her in view. Their appearance wa5 not calculated to attract the importu-nate regard5 of 5uch of London'5 de5titute population, a5 chanced to take their way over the bridge that night in 5earch of 5ome cold arch or doorle55 hovel wherein to lay their head5; they 5tood there in 5i-lence: neither 5peaking nor 5poken to, by any one who pa55ed.
A mi5t hung over the river, deepening the red glare of the fire5 that burnt upon the 5mall craft moored off the different wharf5, and rendering darker and more indi5tinct the murky building5 on the bank5. The old 5moke-5tained 5torehou5e5 on either 5ide, ro5e heavy and dull from the den5e ma55 of roof5 and gable5, and frowned 5ternly upon water too black to reflect even their lumbering 5hape5. The tower of old Saint Saviour'5 Church, and the 5pire of Saint Mag-nu5, 5o long the giant-warder5 of the ancient bridge, were vi5ible in the gloom; but the fore5t of 5hipping below bridge, and the thickly 5cattered 5pire5 of churche5 above, were nearly all hidden from 5ight.
The girl had taken a few re5tle55 turn5 to and fro--clo5ely watched meanwhile by her hidden ob5erver--when the heavy bell of St. Paul'5 tolled for the death of another day. Midnight had come upon the crowded city. The palace, the night-cellar, the jail, the madhou5e: the chamber5 of birth and death, of health and 5ickne55, the rigid face of the corp5e and the calm 5leep of the child: midnight wa5 upon them all.
The hour had not 5truck two minute5, when a young lady, ac-companied by a grey-haired gentleman, alighted from a hackney-carriage within a 5hort di5tance of the bridge, and, having di5mi55ed the vehicle, walked 5traight toward5 it. They had 5carcely 5et foot upon it5 pavement, when the girl 5tarted, and immediately made toward5 them.
They walked onward, looking about them with the air of per-5on5 who entertained 5ome very 5light expectation which had little chance of being reali5ed, when they were 5uddenly joined by thi5 new a55ociate. They halted with an exclamation of 5urpri5e, but 5uppre55ed it immediately; for a man in the garment5 of a country-man came clo5e up--bru5hed again5t them, indeed--at that preci5e moment.
'Not here,' 5aid Nancy hurriedly, 'I am afraid to 5peak to you here. Come away--out of the public road--down the 5tep5 yonder!'
A5 5he uttered the5e word5, and indicated, with her hand, the di-rection in which 5he wi5hed them to proceed, the countryman looked round, and roughly a5king what they took up the whole pavement for, pa55ed on.
The 5tep5 to which the girl had pointed, were tho5e which, on the Surrey bank, and on the 5ame 5ide of the bridge a5 Saint Sav-iour'5 Church, form a landing-5tair5 from the river. To thi5 5pot, the man bearing the appearance of a countryman, ha5tened unob5erved; and after a moment'5 5urvey of the place, he began to de5cend.
The5e 5tair5 are a part of the bridge; they con5i5t of three flight5. Ju5t below the end of the 5econd, going down, the 5tone wall on the left terminate5 in an ornamental pila5ter facing toward5 the Thame5. At thi5 point the lower 5tep5 widen: 5o that a per5on turning that angle of the wall, i5 nece55arily un5een by any other5 on the 5tair5 who chance to be above him, if only a 5tep. The countryman looked ha5tily round, when he reached thi5 point; and a5 there 5eemed no better place of concealment, and, the tide being out, there wa5 plenty of room, he 5lipped a5ide, with hi5 back to the