What are you doing up there?" he shouted in an angry voice
, and the strain the politeness was putting on my hold of the moulding,
and the shock of being addressed in such an uncivil tone,
were too much for me
. I lost my grip, tumbled, and hit the door an unmerciful wallop before I found myself flat on my back in the middle of the aisle.
The people who had been waiting stood up with their mouths open.
The priest opened the door of the middle box and came out, pushing his biretta back from his forehead;
he looked something terrible.
Then Nora came scampering down the aisle.