In the Tideway

Transcriber's Notes: 1. Page scan source: http://books.google.com/books?id=sYwnAAAAMAAJ (New York Public Library) 2. Table of Contents added by Transcriber.
A Statue of charity with helpless childhood gathered to the ample bosom, and helpless age sheltered by the ample veil behind it, a crimson curtain concealing an angle in the stairway. In front a crowd streaming slackly, yet steadily, up the steps; a crowd which broke into little eddies of greeting, little backwaters of gossip, whilst the waves from the rear, taking advantage of the pause, rippled higher and higher. A crowd complaining indifferently of the crush, the heat, the impossibility of being in two places at once--not with reference to the hay-sweet meadows and copses where the nightingales were singing to the moon that summer's night, but in regard to some other hot staircase, where society was due some time ere the sun rose.
To the man who, in a comfortable niche behind the statue, sate removed from the pressure of the current, the scene was framed by Charity's mantle. Perhaps it needed the setting; a crowd generally does whether it be in the old Kent Road or Grosvenor Square.
The Big Bear! I beg your pardon, Mr. Lockhart. Why aren't you in Rome, and is there room for me on that peaceful seat?
There is always room for Golden Locks beside the Big Bear--and now, Lady Maud, why should I be in Rome at this season of the year?
Because, being an artist, you should not mind malaria. Besides, what is malaria to this insufferable heat and crush? Doesn't it strike you that our hostess thinks getting into society, and getting society into her rooms, are synonymous terms? Did you ever see such a--
Charity, Lady Maud, Charity! interrupted her companion, pointing to the protecting arm stretched between them and the crowd. Let it cover the multitude--
Of sins? Thank you. I suppose I am wicked. But you--why are you here in the swim? When you profess to despise us--to renounce the world, the flesh, and the devil--