“ 'Yet verily, the rose is within the thorn.' ”
“ 'The good mother makes bean soup for the errant boy,' ” said the voice behind the door.
There was a pause, broken only by the sound of the rain. Then the visitor said, “What?”
“ 'The good mother makes bean soup for the errant boy.' ”
There was another, longer pause. Then the damp figure said, “Are you sure the ill-built tower doesn't tremble mightily at a butterfly's passage?”
“Nope. Bean soup it is. I'm sorry.”
The rain hissed down relentlessly in the embarrassed silence.
“What about the caged whale?” said the soaking visitor, trying to squeeze into what little shelter the dread portal offered.
“What about it?”
“It should know nothing of the mighty deeps, if you must know.”
“Oh, the caged whale. You want the Elucidated Brethren of the Ebon Night. Three doors down.”
“Who're you, then?”
“We're the Illuminated and Ancient Brethren of Ee.”
"I thought you met over in Treacle Street,'' said the damp man, after a while.
“Yeah, well. You know how it is. The fretwork club have the room Tuesdays. There was a bit of a mix-up.”
“Oh? Well, thanks anyway.”
“My pleasure.” The little door slammed shut.
The robed figure glared at it for a moment, and then splashed further down the street. There was indeed another portal there. The builder hadn't bothered to change the design much.
He knocked. The little barred hatch shot back.
“Yes?”
“Look, 'The significant owl hoots in the night', all right?”
“ 'Yet many grey lords go sadly to the masterless men.' ”
“ 'Hooray, horray for the spinster's sister's daughter', okay?' ”
“ 'To the axeman, all supplicants are the same height.' ”
“ 'Yet verily, the rose is within the thorn.' It's pissing down out here. You do know that, don't you?”
“Yes,” said the voice, in the tones of one who indeed does know it, and is not the one standing in it.
The visitor sighed.
“ 'The caged whale knows nothing of the mighty deeps,' ” he said. “If it makes you any happier.”
“ 'The ill-built tower trembles mightily at a butterfly's passage.' ”
The supplicant grabbed the bars of the window, pulled himself up to it, and hissed: “Now let us in, I'm soaked.”