she saw, about a hundred
yards ahead, the unmistakable trousers, coat, and Derby hat so familiar
on the person of Copernicus Droop.

"Hey!" she cried. "Hey, there, Mister Droop! Copernicus Droop!"

She ended with a shrill, far-carrying, long-drawn call that sounded much
like a "whoop." Evidently he heard her, for he started, looked over his
shoulder, and then set off with redoubled speed, as though anxious to
avoid her.

She stopped short for a moment, paralyzed with astonishment.

"Well!" she exclaimed. "If I ever! I suppose it's a case of 'the wicked
flee,' but he can't get away from me as easy's that."

And then began a race the like of which was never seen before. In
advance, Francis Bacon scurried forward as fast as he dared without
running, dreading the added publicity his rapid progress was sure to
bring upon him, yet dreading even more to be overtaken by this amazing
female apparition, in whose accents and intonation he recognized another
of the Droop species.

Behind Bacon came Rebecca, conspicuous enough in her prim New England
gown and bonneted head, but doubly remarkable as she skipped from stone
to stone to avoid the mud and filth of the unpaved streets, and swinging
in one hand her little black satchel and in the other her faithful
umbrella.

From time to time she called aloud: "Hey, stop there! Copernicus Droop!
Stop, I say! It's only Rebecca Wise!"

The race would have been a short one, indeed, had she not found it
impossible to ignore the puddles, rubbish heaps, and other obstacles
which half-filled the streets and obstructed her path at every turn.
Bacon, who was accustomed to these conditions and had no impeding skirts
to check him, managed, therefore, to hold his own without actually
running.

These two were not long left to themselves. Such a progress could not
take place in the heart of England's capital without forming in its
train an ever-growing suite of the idle and curious. Ere long a rabble
of street-walkers, beggars, pick-pockets, and loafers were stamping
behind Rebecca, repeating her shrill appeals with coarse variations, and
assailing her with jokes which, fortunately for her, were worded in
terms which her New England ears could not comprehend.

In this order the two strangely clad beings hurried down toward the
Thames; he in the hope of finding a waterman who should carry him beyond
the reach of his dreaded persecutors; she counting upon the river, which
she knew to lie som