Then the bridge! I had perhaps dreamed of such a bridge, but never seen such as one out of an dreamed of such a bridge, but never seen such as one out of an illuminated manuscript; for not even the Ponte Vecchio at Florence came anywhere near it. It was of stone arches, splendidly solid, and as graceful as they were strong; high enough also to let ordinary river traffic easily. Over the parapet showed quaint and fanciful little buildings, which I supposed to be booths or shops, beset with painted and gilded vanes and spirelets. the stone was a little weathered but showed no marks of the grimy sootiness which I was used to on every London building more than a year old. In short, to me a wonder of a bridge.
The sculler noted my eager astonished look, and said, as if in answer to my thoughts:
"Yes, it _is_a pretty bridge, isn't it? Even the up-stream bridges, which are so much smaller, are scarcely daintier, and the down-stream ones are scarcely more dignified and stately."I found myself saying, almost against my will, "How old is it?""O, not very old", he said; "it was built or at least opened, in 2003.
There used to be a rather plain timber bridge before then."The date shut my mouth as if a key had been turned in a padlock fixed to my lips; for I saw that something inexplicable had happened, and that if I said much, I should be mixed up in a game of cross questions and crooked answers. So I tried to look unconcerned, and to glance in a matter-of-course way at the banks of the river, though this is what I saw up to the bridge and a little beyond; say as far as the site of the soap-works. Both shores had a line of very pretty houses, low and not large, standing back a little way from the river; they were mostly built of red brick and roofed with tiles, and looked, above all, comfortable, and as if they were, so to say, alive, and sympathetic with the life of the dwellers in them. There was a continuous garden in front of them, going down to the water's edge, in which the flowers were now blooming luxuriantly, and sending delicious waves of summer scent over the eddying stream. Behind the houses, i could see great trees rising, mostly planes, and looking down the water there were the reaches towards Putney almost as if they were a lake with a forest shore, so thick were the big trees; and I said aloud, but as if to myself:
"Well, I'm glad that they have not built over Barn Elms."I blushed for my fatuity as the words slipped out of my mouth, and my companion looked at me with a half smile which I thought I understood;so to hide my confusion I said, "Please take me ashore now; I want to get my breakfast."He nodded, and brought her head round with a sharp stroke, and in a trice we were at the landing-stage again. He jumped out and I followed him; and of course I was not surprised to see him wait, as if for the inevitable after-piece that follows the doing of a service to a fellow citizen. So I put my hand in my waistcoat-pocket, and said, "How much?" though still with the uncomfortable feeling that perhaps I was offering money to a gentleman.
He looked puzzled, and said, "How much? I don't quite understand what you are asking about. do you mean the tide? If so, it is close on the turn now."I blushed, and said, stammering, "Please don't take it amiss if I ask you; I mean no offence: but what ought I to pay you? You see I am a stranger, and don't know your customs--or your coins."And therewith I took a handful of money out of my pocket, as one does in a foreign country. And by the way, I saw that the silver had oxidised, and was like a blackleaded stove in color.
He still seemed puzzled, but not at all offended; and he looked at the coins with some curiosity. I thought, Well after all, he _is_ a waterman , and is considering what he may venture to take. he seems such a nice fellow that I'm sure I don't grudge him a little overpayment. I wonder, by the way, whether I couldn't hire him as a guide for a day or two, since he is so intelligent.
Therewith my new friend said thoughtfully: