He had never before gone higher up than the Temple Stairs, and now as he drifted past these and saw the fine pile of Westminster rising before his eyes, he felt a thrill of admiration and awe, and turned in his seat the better to observe and admire.
Westminster was almost like another town in those days, divided from the busy walled city of London by fields and gardens and fine mansions standing in their own grounds.

On the south side of the river the houses were few and far between, and save at Southwark, hardly any attempt at regular building had been made.

Past the great Palace of Whitehall and Westminster, with its Parliament Houses rising majestic against the darkening sky, drifted the lonely little boat.

And then Cuthbert took his oars and pulled for the southern bank; for he knew that Lambeth was not very much farther away, and he recalled to mind the directions of the priest, how to find it and know it.
Trees fringed the southern bank here, leafless at this season, but still imparting a certain dark dreariness to the scene.

The hoot of an owl occasionally broke the silence, and sent light shivers through Cuthbert's frame.