Inside Pontings there was a hush as of the study and the church combined.

It was a rather dark shop with rows and rows of books disappearing into the ceiling, and one grave and unnaturally old young man behind the counter.

Jeremy did not know what he should do about Hamlet, so he brought him inside, only to discover to his horror that the fiercest of all the Canons, Canon Waterbury, held the floor of the shop.

Canon Waterbury had a black beard and a biting tongue.

He had once warned Jeremy off the Cathedral grass in a voice of thunder, and Jeremy had never forgotten it.