The lady to whom we are now referring was almost lost sight of round the distant corner, when the shop door was suddenly opened and three young men rushed out into the middle of the street with bare heads and a wonder-struck expression on their countenances. On perceiving the lady they gave a shout, and rushed after her like harriers.
The excitement was by this time at its height. What could it mean? was the question repeatedly asked, but which no one seemed able to answer.
The spectators poured down from their windows to their doors, and from their doors into the street. Something extraordinary had taken place, and everyone was desirous of knowing what that something was.
They saw the shopmen leading back the fashionably-dressed female, who expostulated with them loudly. She was most indignant, and told them that they should be severely punished for the indignity they had offered her.
One of them carried a bundle of lace in his hand, which, with a triumphant wave of his hand, he presented to the owner of the Titanic establishment, who, panting and almost breathless, had come up with his subordinates.
They were immediately surrounded by a horde of men, women, and children, who had come to see what was the matter. These persons cried out in loud voices, and, addressing themselves to the master draper, asked what the poor thing had done.
There was a general feeling of sympathy for the lady manifested by the crowd, some of whom were disposed to take her part at all hazards.
The proprietor of the drapery establishment saw this, and he appealed to them impetuously. He was not very logical, but that did not much matter.
“Was it right,” he said to the gaping bystanders, “that he should have, he’d be afraid to say how many pounds worth of lace, lifted out of his shop without trying to protect himself?”
“Oh, gammon and all!” cried a rough navigator, who had been working on the line for the last few weeks.