clean
off his legs. He was in the act of half-consciously taking off his hat
and begging the horse's pardon when a stout policeman, coming to the
rescue, lifted him bodily up in one arm, and, carrying him over the
crossing, deposited him safely on the pavement. He recovered his
breath in a minute or two, and then began to walk down Piccadilly
towards the Park.

The streets were gay and crowded, partly with black and grey people
who seemed to be going about some business or other, but starred
beautifully here and there with bright-eyed, clear-skinned, slender
youths in straw hats, something like Austin himself, enjoying their
release from school. Phalanxes of smartly-dressed ladies impeded the
traffic outside the windows of all the millinery shops, omnibuses
rattled up and down in a never-ending procession, and strident urchins
with little pink newspapers under their arms yelled for all they were
worth. Austin, absorbed in the cheerful spectacle, sauntered hither
and thither, now attracted by the fresh verdure of the Green Park, now
gazing with vivid interest at the ever-varying types of humanity that
surged around him; blissfully unconscious that every one was staring
at him, as though wondering who the pale-faced boy with eager eyes and
a shiny black wooden leg could be, and why he went zigzagging to and
fro and peering so excitedly about as though he had never seen any
shops or people in his life before. At last he arrived at the Corner,
and, turning into the Park, spent a quarter of an hour watching the
riders in Rotten Row; then he crossed to the Marble Arch, passing a
vast array of gorgeous flowers in full bloom, listened wonderingly to
an untidy orator demolishing Christianity for the benefit of a little
knot of errand-boys and nursemaids, took another omnibus along Oxford
Street to the Circus, and, after an enchanting walk down Regent
Street, entered a bright little Italian restaurant in the Quadrant,
where he had a delightful lunch. This disposed of, he found that he
could afford a full hour to have a look at the National Gallery
without danger of losing his train, and off he plodded towards
Trafalgar Square to make the most of his opportunity.

Meanwhile Aunt Charlotte received her telegram, and, greatly relieved
by its contents, spent an agreeable day. It was not to be wondered at
if she felt a little fluttering excitement at the prospect of seeing
her old suitor, and was more than usually fastidious in the