At length he was convinced that he should be enabled to find that particular dwelling again, or to direct Crankey Jem to it without the possibility of error; and, rejoicing at being thus enabled to oblige his new friend, the young man commenced his long and weary walk back to Drury Lane.
[24]. The tread-mill.
CHAPTER CXCIII.
ANOTHER VISIT TO BUCKINGHAM PALACE.
It was the evening following the one the incidents of which occupied the preceding chapter.
Beneath a sofa in the Ball Room of Buckingham Palace, Henry Holford lay concealed.
It would be a mere repetition of statements made in former portions of this work, were we to describe the means by which the young man obtained access to the most private parts of the royal dwelling. We may, however, observe that he had paid frequent visits to the palace since the occasion when we first saw him enter those sacred precincts at the commencement of January, 1839; and that he was as familiar with the interior of the sovereign's abode, even to its most retired chambers, as any of its numerous inmates.
He had run many risks of discovery; but a species of good fortune seemed to attend upon him in these strange and romantic ventures; and those frequent alarms had never as yet terminated in his detection. Thus he became emboldened in his intrusions; and he now lay beneath the sofa in the Ball Room, with no more apprehension than he would have entertained if some authority in the palace had actually connived at his presence there.
It was nine o'clock in the evening; and the Ball Room was brilliantly illuminated.
But as yet the low-born pot-boy was its sole occupant.