aps into her form from a distance so great as
she can clear by a spring, we made a forced march, and landed in private
and obscure lodgings in a little old street in Westminster, not far from
the Cloisters.

'On the morning of the day on which we arrived my uncle went abroad, and
did not return for some hours. Meantime I had no other amusement than to
listen to the tumult of noises which succeeded each other, or reigned
in confusion together during the whole morning. Paris I had thought
the most noisy capital in the world, but Paris seemed midnight silence
compared to London. Cannon thundered near and at a distance--drums,
trumpets, and military music of every kind, rolled, flourished, and
pierced the clouds, almost without intermission. To fill up the concert,
bells pealed incessantly from a hundred steeples. The acclamations of
an immense multitude were heard from time to time, like the roaring of a
mighty ocean, and all this without my being able to glean the least idea
of what was going on, for the windows of our apartment looked upon
a waste backyard, which seemed totally deserted. My curiosity became
extreme, for I was satisfied, at length, that it must be some festival
of the highest order which called forth these incessant sounds.

'My uncle at length returned, and with him a man of an exterior
singularly unprepossessing. I need not describe him to you, for--do not
look round--he rides behind us at this moment.'

'That respectable person, Mr. Cristal Nixon, I suppose?' said Darsie.

'The same,' answered Lilias; 'make no gesture, that may intimate we are
speaking of him.'

Darsie signified that he understood her, and she pursued her relation.

'They were both in full dress, and my uncle, taking a bundle from Nixon,
said to me, "Lilias, I am come to carry you to see a grand ceremony--put
on as hastily as you can the dress you will find in that parcel, and
prepare to attend me." I found a female dress, splendid and elegant,
but somewhat bordering upon the antique fashion. It might be that of
England, I thought, and I went to my apartment full of curiosity, and
dressed myself with all speed.

'My uncle surveyed me with attention--"She may pass for one of the
flower-girls," he said to Nixon, who only answered with a nod.

'We left the house together, and such was their knowledge of the lanes,
courts, and bypaths, that though there was the roar of a multitude in
the broad streets, those which we traversed were