At last a small but sympathetic bystander volunteered the information that the omnibus yard was not far off, and if we went there we should have the first choice. Cheered by this idea we hastened thither, and though our joy was rather damped by finding that the same happy thought had struck about twenty other people, we dashed recklessly into the thick of the fray, and after a breathless struggle, landed in a triumphant heap on the floor inside. Someone trod on my skirt and nearly tore it off, but Belinda Ann did such noble execution with her sharp elbows and sharper tongue that this was my only mishap, and we subsided into seats with just elation. Belinda Ann especially was so pleased at our success that it made her unusually “chirpy,” which state of mind led up to a regrettable incident. A gentleman in corduroy mounting to the roof discovered that his “young lydy” was seated inside the omnibus. Pausing therefore half-way up the staircase, regardless of the impatient throng behind him, he poked his head under the lamp and tried to persuade her to come outside with him. The lady was coy and the gentleman urgent, which somewhat prolonged matters, until at last a West-Ender immediately behind the impatient lover lost his temper and observed irritably— “Now then, my good fellow, don’t keep us here all day! If you’re going up, get on!” The “good fellow” turned on him at once, his “young lydy” of course sided with her _fiancé_, and Belinda Ann stuck loyally to her class by remarking in her peculiarly penetrating voice— “Ho, yuss! ’Cause ’e’s got on a nigh ’at, ’e thinks the ’ole bloomin’ ’bus berlongs ter rim! Yuss hindeed.” I was covered with confusion, and vainly tried to quiet her, but the unlucky young “toff” made matters worse by defending himself. “Well,” he said fiercely, “he has no right to block the whole staircase!” “No, in course not!” agreed Belinda Ann, with dangerous politeness and withering sarcasm. “Most inconsidrate I calls it. Boo—hoo—hoo—oo!” The war-cry was taken up all round till its unfortunate victim was only too glad to hide his diminished head in its despised “topper” anywhere “out of the four-mile radius” of the savage whoops with which the neighbourhood fairly rang. As for me, I sat in my corner scarlet with embarrassment and an hysterical desire to laugh, and was thankful when at last the omnibus moved off. The rest of the journey was accomplished in peace, but we still had some distance to walk when we got out and joined the throng of happy, careless, jovial holiday-makers trudging along in the sun. The crowd was a queer mixture of West and East, grand ladies in the most fashionable toilettes being obliged to elbow their way through the friendly costers and merry factory girls amid a chorus of “What ho! What price me? ’Ow’s thet fur style?” and so on.