London (England) -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Man-woman relationships -- Fiction; Young women -- Fiction
Neither paid any heed to the shrill exclamation of surprise to which a
stout person in a plaided costume surmounted by a lofty plumed hat gave
vent as she recognized the slight figure in the blue serge gown. The
stout lady was industriously engaged in consuming sweets out of a brown
paper bag; but she suspended the half of a magenta-tinted confection in
midair while she called her companion's attention to her discovery.
"I'll cross the two feet av me this minute if it ain't _hur_!" she
cried.
Her escort, who was distinguished by a mottled complexion, a soiled
white waistcoat, and a billy-cock hat tipped knowingly over one red eye,
helped himself to a block of dubious taffy, as he inquired with
trenchant brevity: "Who's hur?"
"An' bad 'cess to hur English imperance, if she ain't wid _him_!" went
on the lady excitedly; "sure an' it's Mary MacGrotty as'll tell the
missus what I seen wid me own two eyes come to-morry mornin'. An' whin
I'm t'rough wid hur ye'll not be able to find the lavin's an' lashin's
av _hur_ on Staten Island! Aw, the young divil!"
Happily, the unconscious object of these ambiguous remarks moved on
without turning her head, and was presently lost to view amid the
shifting crowd.
There was much to be seen at every turn of the winding paths, and Jane's
girlish laugh rang out more than once at the solemn antics of the brown
bears, obviously greedy and expectant despite the official warnings
against feeding the animals, which were posted everywhere; at the
bellowings and contortions of the mild-eyed seals, as they dashed from
side to side of their tank, or "galumphed" about on the rocks. It was
Jane who supplied the missing word out of "Alice in Wonderland," and
John declared that it was the only word to describe the actions of a
seal on dry ground, and hence deserved an honorable place in the
dictionary.
Neither of them noticed the lengthening shadows, nor the gradually
thinning crowd, till Jane observed a pair of huge eagles settling
themselves deliberately upon a branch in their cage. "They look," she
said innocently, "as if they were going to roost."
Not till then did the infatuated John Everett bethink himself to glance
at his watch.
"They _are_ going to roost, Jane," he said soberly, "and we've a long
trip before us."
Jane could never afterwards recall the memory of that homeward journey
without a poignant throb of the dismay which overwhelmed her when she
spied Mary MacGrotty's leering face in the crowd that waited in the
ferryhouse. Miss MacGrotty's countenance was suggestively empurpled, and
her gait was swaying and uncertain as she approached Jane.
"I seen yez wid _him_ to th' Paark," she whispered, "ye desaitful young
baggage!" Then she stepped back into the crowd and disappeared before
the girl could collect her wits to reply.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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