“I never saw such a boy! Where shall we go?”
“I say, we’ll go to the Derby! To-morrow is the day. Now, it is useless for you to say no, professor. You declined to allow me to attend the races in Paris, but I do not mean to miss the Derby. All Americans who come to London see the Derby. It wouldn’t do to go back to the United States and confess that we did not attend. It is settled, professor.”
Scotch groaned.
“Well,” he said, “I suppose I’ll have to humor you this time; but I do not know what your poor dead uncle would think of me if he knew I permitted you to witness such degrading spectacles.”
Frank laughed.
“In his younger days, Uncle Asher was somewhat sporty himself, professor. If he were alive and here, I am sure he would take me to see the Derby. Don’t let it worry you. And to-night we will go to the theater.”
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE DERBY.
It was a bright, sunny day. The Clapham Road was thronged with every make of vehicles known to London streets. There were open trucks, with kitchen chairs for seats, omnibuses, covered with advertisements, hansoms, with hampers on top; drays, vans and carryalls. In the moving line were coaches, with ringing horns and jangling harnesses, while costermongers’ carts could be seen everywhere. And every vehicle had its load of passengers, from the four-horse coach to the costermonger’s cart, the latter often carrying six men and being drawn by one poor little donkey.
To watch this procession, thousands of people thronged the two sidewalks and filled the windows of the houses.