s to her mother to retreat,--Lady
Clavering made that signal very speedily, so that it was quite
daylight yet when the ladies reached the upper apartments, from the
flower-embroidered balconies of which they could command a view of the
two Parks, of the poor couples and children still sauntering in the one,
and of the equipages of ladies and the horses of dandies passing through
the arch of the other. The sun, in a word had not set behind the elms
of Kensington Gardens, and was still gilding the statue erected by the
ladies of England in honour of his Grace the Duke of Wellington, when
Lady Clavering and her female friends left the gentlemen drinking wine.

The windows of the dining-room were opened to let in the fresh air,
and afforded to the passers-by in the street a pleasant, or perhaps,
tantalising view of six gentlemen in white waistcoats with a quantity
of decanters and a variety of fruits before them--little boys, as they
passed and jumped up at the area-railings and took a peep, said to one
another, "Hi hi, Jim, shouldn't you like to be there and have a cut of
that there pineapple?"--the horses and carriages of the nobility and
gentry passed by conveying them to Belgravian toilets: the policeman,
with clamping feet patrolled up and down before the mansion: the shades
of evening began to fall: the gasman came and lighted the lamps before
Sir Francis's door: the butler entered the dining-room, and illuminated
the antique gothic chandelier over the antique carved oak dining-table:
so that from outside the house you looked inwards upon a night-scene of
feasting and wax-candles; and from within you beheld a vision of a calm
summer evening, and the wall of Saint James's Park, and the sky above,
in which a star or two was just beginning to twinkle.

Jeames, with folded legs, leaning against the door-pillar of his
master's abode, looked forth musingly upon the latter tranquil sight:
whilst a spectator clinging to the railings examined the former scene.
Policeman X passing, gave his attention to neither, but fixed it upon
the individual holding by the railings, and gazing into Sir Francis
Clavering's dining-room, where Strong was laughing and talking away,
making the conversation for the party.

The man at the railing was very gorgeously attired with chains,
jewellery, and waistcoats, which the illumination from the house lighted
up to great advantage; his boots were shiny; he had brass buttons to his
coat, and large