The inner house

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Walter Besant. The inner house

PROLOGUE. AT THE ROYAL INSTITUTION

CHAPTER I. THE SUPPER-BELL

CHAPTER II. GROUT, SUFFRAGAN

CHAPTER III. CHRISTINE AT HOME

CHAPTER IV. WHAT IS LOVE?

CHAPTER V. THE OPEN DOOR

CHAPTER VI. THE ARCH PHYSICIAN

CHAPTER VII. THE FIDELITY OF JOHN LAX

CHAPTER VIII. THE ARCH TRAITOR

CHAPTER IX. IN THE INNER HOUSE

CHAPTER X. THE COUNCIL IN THE HOUSE

CHAPTER XI. THE TRIAL AND SENTENCE

CHAPTER XII. THE REBELS

CHAPTER XIII. THE EXECUTION

CHAPTER XIV. PRISONERS

CHAPTER XV. THE RECRUITING SERGEANT

CHAPTER XVI. A MOST UNEXPECTED CONCLUSION

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When the big bell in the Tower of the House of Life struck the hour of seven, the other bells began to chime as they had done every day at this hour for I know not how many years. Very likely in the Library, where we still keep a great collection of perfectly useless books, there is preserved some History which may speak of these Bells, and of the builders of the House. When these chimes began, the swifts and jackdaws which live in the Tower began to fly about with a great show of hurry, as if there was barely time for supper, though, as it was yet only the month of July, the sun would not be setting for an hour or more.

We have long since ceased to preach to the people, otherwise we might make them learn a great deal from the animal world. They live, for instance, from day to day; not only are their lives miserably short, but they are always hungry, always fighting, always quarrelling, always fierce in their loves and their jealousies. Watching the swifts, for instance, which we may do nearly all day long, we ought to congratulate ourselves on our own leisurely order, the adequate provision for food made by the Wisdom of the College, the assurance of preservation also established by that Wisdom, and our freedom from haste and anxiety, as from the emotions of love, hatred, jealousy, and rivalry. But the time has gone by for that kind of exhortation.

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On the North side of the Square stands the great and venerable House of Life, the Glory of the City, the Pride of the whole Country.

It is very ancient. Formerly there were many such splendid monuments standing in the country; now this alone remains. It was built in the dim, distant ages, when men believed things now forgotten. It was designed for the celebration of certain ceremonies or functions; their nature and meaning may, I dare say, be ascertained by any who cares to waste time in an inquiry so useless. The edifice itself could not possibly be built in these times; first because we have no artificers capable of rearing such a pile, and next because we have not among us any one capable of conceiving it, or drawing the design of it; nay, we have none who could execute the carved stone-work.

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