"Ja! De best time, it is ten o’clock, before he go to de palace. He rise late; he has many visitors; I zee him myself in his dressing-gown before his zervant have curled his wig, and I wait my turn two hours. And when you zee him, you zall lose no time; he like man to speak out, mark you." The Dutchman spoke very slowly, not interrupting his meal, and wagging his fat finger as he concluded. "And how shall I go? Shall I walk?" "I’ feck, no," said Sherebiah from behind. "The night have been rainy, and the streets be mushed wi’ mud; you’d be spattered from head to heel, Master Harry. Nay; you med walk as far as the Exchange and buy ’ee a pair o’ gloves there for seemliness, and then get your shoes brushed by one o’ the blackguards at the corner. Then you can take a chair; ’tis a shilling a mile, and easier goen nor the hackneys, for the chairmen walk on the pavement, and you won’t get jolted nor splashed so bad." "Ja, and I tell you dis," added the Dutchman. "Short poles, and short men; zo, dey take not zo much room, and if dey upzet you, why, you do not fall zo much." "Ay, and don’t let ’em chouse ’ee out o’ more than their due," said Sherebiah. "I know they men. If they think a man be up from country, they look at un and then at the shilling, up and down, and miscall un wi’ such brazen tongues that he’ll pay anything to save his ears. A shilling a mile, Master Harry, no more." "Zo! De counsel is good. But I give you a better: go not at all. Lords! I tell you dis before: an honest merchant is worth two, dree, no man zay how many lords; and de Book zay, ’Put not your drust in princes’. Still, I wish you good luck, my young vrient, Jan Grootz; zo!" He squeezed Harry’s hand in his own great fist, and then, having demolished his mountain of food, filled his pipe and set forth for the Custom House on Thames bank. Two hours later, Harry left the inn under Sherebiah’s guidance, and for the first time in his life trod the streets of London. Filled though his mind was with the approaching interview, which might mean so much to him, he was yet able to take an interest in the strange scenes that opened before his inexperienced eyes: the brilliant shops, each with its sign of painted copper, pewter, or wood hanging from iron branches; the taverns and coffee-houses, already crowded with people eager to hear and discuss the news, and perhaps to get a peep at the morning’s _Courant_; the court and porticoes of the Royal Exchange, to which merchants were flocking; the crowds of money-dealers in Change Alley, looking for clients. He went up to the gallery on the first floor of the Exchange, and bought a pair of gloves from a neat and pretty girl at one of the booths; then strolled along, admiring the rich and dazzling display of silks and jewellery which a few hours later would attract all the fine ladies in town.