“This was enough to settle my decision not to budge an inch, until I knew what they were up to. I could not see round the corner, mind--though ladies seem capable of doing that, Maria--and so these fellows, who seemed to be in two lots, some at the top and some at the bottom of the plankway, were entirely out of my sight as yet, though I had a good view of their sliding-plane. But presently the ropes began to strain and creak, drawn taut--as our fishermen express it--either from the upper or the lower end, and I saw three barrels come sliding down--sliding, not rolling (you must understand), and not as a brewer delivers beer into a cellar. These passed by me; and after a little while there came again that strange sepulchral sound, which had made me feel so uneasy. “Maria, you know that I can hold my own against almost anybody in the world but you; and although this place is far outside my parish boundaries, I felt that as the Uncle of the present owner--so far at least as the lawyers have not snapped him up--and the brother-in-law of the previous proprietor, I possessed an undeniable legal right--quo warranto, or whatever it is called--to look into all proceedings on these premises. Next to Holy Scripture, Horace is my guide and guardian; and I called to mind a well-known passage, which may roughly be rendered thus: 'If the crushed world tumble on him, the ruins shall strike him undismayed.' With this in my head, I went softly down the side-wall of the Dial-court (for there was no getting through the place where I had been peeping) to the bottom, where there used to be an old flint wall, and a hedge of sweet-briar in front of it. You remember the pretty conceit I made--quaint and wholesome as one of Herrick's--when you said something--but I verily believe we were better in those days than we ever have been since. Now don't interrupt me about that, my dear.