To my thinking the noise
was hideous, but it produced a great effect upon my companions, who
professed themselves much moved. As soon as the singing was over, the
ladies requested me to stay where I was while they went inside the place
from which it had seemed to come.
During their absence certain reflections forced themselves upon me.
In the first place, it struck me as strange that the building should be
so nearly empty; I was almost alone, and the few besides myself had been
led by curiosity, and had no intention of doing business with the bank.
But there might be more inside. I stole up to the curtain, and ventured
to draw the extreme edge of it on one side. No, there was hardly any one
there. I saw a large number of cashiers, all at their desks ready to pay
cheques, and one or two who seemed to be the managing partners. I also
saw my hostess and her daughters and two or three other ladies; also
three or four old women and the boys from one of the neighbouring
Colleges of Unreason; but there was no one else. This did not look as
though the bank was doing a very large business; and yet I had always
been told that every one in the city dealt with this establishment.
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