‘They say it was your coachman’s fault; we have nothing to do with that; besides, you know who they are. Their employers’ name is on the cart, Brown, Bugsby, and Co., Limehouse. You can have your redress against Brown, Bugsby, and Co., Lime-house, if your coachman is not in fault; but you cannot stop up the way, and you had better get out, and let the carriage be removed to the Steel-yard.’ ‘What am I to do?’ exclaimed the lady with a tearful eye and agitated face. ‘I have a carriage at hand,’ said Tancred, who at this moment reached her, ‘and it is quite at your service.’ The lady cast her beautiful eyes, with an expression of astonishment she could not conceal, at the distinguished youth who thus suddenly appeared in the midst of insolent carmen, brutal policemen, and all the cynical amateurs of a mob. Public opinion in the Poultry was against her; her coachman’s wig had excited derision; the footmen had given themselves airs; there was a strong feeling against the shortcoats. As for the lady, though at first awed by her beauty and magnificence, they rebelled against the authority of her manner. Besides, she was not alone. There was a gentleman with her, who wore moustaches, and had taken a part in the proceedings at first, by addressing the carmen in French. This was too much, and the mob declared he was Don Carlos. ‘You are too good,’ said the lady, with a sweet expression. [Illustration: page152] Tancred opened the door of the chariot, the policemen pulled down the steps, the servants were told to do the best they could with the wrecked equipage; in a second the lady and her companion were in Tancred’s brougham, who, desiring his servants to obey all their orders, disappeared, for the stoppage at this moment began to move, and there was no time for bandying compliments. He had gained the pavement, and had made his way as far as the Mansion House, when, finding a group of public buildings, he thought it prudent to inquire which was the Bank. ‘That is the Bank,’ said a good-natured man, in a bustle, but taken by Tancred’s unusual appearance. ‘What do you want? I am going there.’ ‘I do not want exactly the Bank,’ replied Tancred, ‘but a place somewhere near it. Do you happen to know, sir, a place called Sequin Court?’ ‘I should think I did,’ said the man, smiling. ‘So you are going to Sidonia’s?’ CHAPTER XVII. _The Wizard of Fortune_ TANCRED entered Sequin Court; a chariot with a foreign coronet was at the foot of the great steps which he ascended. He was received by a fat hall porter, who would not have disgraced his father’s establishment, and who, rising with lazy insolence from his hooded chair, when he observed that Tancred did not advance, asked the new comer what he wanted. ‘I want Monsieur de Sidonia.’ ‘Can’t see him now; he is engaged.’ ‘I have a note for him.’