That memorable winter was
one of mourning to many in England. Some of her own brave sons
perished amidst the frozen dykes of Holland and the Netherlands,
vainly opposing the march of the French anarchists. How strange
appeared then to him the doom of nations.]
Thaddeus stood under the piazzas for two or three minutes, bewildered
on the plan he should adopt. To return to the hotel for any purpose
but to sleep, in the present state of his finances, would be
impossible; he therefore determined, inclement as the season was, if
he could not find a chapel, to walk the streets until night. He might
then go back to the Hummums to his bed chamber; but he resolved to
quit it in the morning, for a residence more suitable to his slender
means.
The wind blew keenly from the north-east, accompanied with a violent
shower of sleet and rain; yet such was the abstraction of his mind,
that he hardly observed its bitterness, but walked on, careless
whither his feet led him, until he stopped opposite St. Martin's
church.
"God is my only friend! and in any house of His I shall surely find
shelter!"
He turned up the steps, and was entering the porch, when he met the
congregation thronging out of it.
"Is the service over?" he inquired of a decent old woman who was
passing him down the stairs. The woman started at this question,
asked her in English by a person whose dress was so completely
foreign.
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