It was impossible to purchase another ticket at that time; and for Mrs. Sandboys to trust herself alone in such a crowd was more than he or she felt inclined to hazard. And yet it was hard,—after all they had gone through, in order to get to the Great Exhibition,—now that they stood on the very threshold of the building, to be obliged to return home.
Mr. Sandboys endeavoured to explain the circumstances to the officers; but many would not listen to him; those who did could hardly refrain from laughing at his misfortune.
The authorities were ruthless; and some, who were more suspicious, and consequently did not hesitate to look upon the circumstance as a trick to obtain admission to the building without payment, were more unceremonious than the rest; so, finding the gentleman still loitering in the lobby, they at length thrust him and his lady outside the gates.
When Mr. Sandboys and his wife had been ejected from the building, they stood for a few minutes looking with envy at the people showing their cards, and obtaining admission to the interior. Cursty, then, to his supreme annoyance, saw the identical Frenchman whom he had encountered that morning at his maid’s door present—what he felt satisfied was the card that he himself had given him, and pass in to the interior of the building.
Aggy, to whom Mr. Sandboys had communicated all the circumstances immediately on the discovery of his loss, was convinced, from the inquiry she had made, that the Frenchman, who had obtained admission with their season ticket, was none other than the wretch who had pursued her in the dead of the night through the corridors of Miss Wewitz’ establishment.
After vowing all kinds of vengeance against the foreigner, and making up their minds to have justice done them immediately on their return home, the Sandboys began to think, when their wrath had in a measure cooled down, that, if Fate had denied them the privilege of witnessing the “pageant” from the interior, which they had paid the sum of five guineas to be enabled to do, they might as well, now that they were there, make the best of their bargain, and enjoy a gratuitous sight of the procession from without.
Accordingly, they proceeded to push their way, as well as they could, towards the north side of the Transept, where they were informed the Queen was to make her entrance. Here, on the Serpentine, a miniature frigate lay at anchor; and on board were several youths making preparations for the royal salute. Youths and men were seen climbing the trees on the south bank; some sitting astride a forked branch, and others standing on the spreading boughs; while some few urchins, who had attained the topmost part of the trees, caused the branches to bend beneath their weight. Every minute the crowd round about the building grew thicker; the pressure against the bars, and the squeezing of the masses of people, grew greater and greater; so that, when the police began to clear the road, and to make way for the carriages, that were rapidly advancing one after another with the officers of State, the crush became terrific.
Mrs. Sandboys, eager to obtain a peep at the Queen at all risks, was at first in no way daunted at the sight of the crowd, and sought, under the care of her husband, to get as near as possible to the Transept; but though Cursty was as powerful a man as any there, it was useless for him to strive to keep the pressure of the throng off his wife; they had not been in the thick of the crowd more than a few minutes before—what with the police driving back the people in front, and what with the people at the back pressing forwards—poor Mrs. Sandboys was so crammed in and jammed in, so jostled and hustled, and so pushed and crushed, that all of a sudden her senses went from her, and she fell like a lifeless lump into her Cursty’s arms.
Then and then only was it possible for them to get extricated from the dense mass of human beings that hemmed them in on all sides; for immediately it was made known that the lady had fainted, a passage was made for Mr. Sandboys, so that he might carry her to some more open part.
On “coming to herself,” Aggy was in no way inclined to venture into the crowd a second time; and accordingly, she and her husband proceeded, as best they could, to the other side of the Serpentine. Here they stood for some little time on the bank, till, the multitude growing inconveniently great as the hour for the opening drew near, they both agreed that it would be far better and safer for them to take a seat in one of the boats of the watermen, who were there plying for hire up and down the river.