Why the Lord Chamberlain, I could not precisely
see, nor could he, but that was the way he felt,
he said conclusively, and there was no more dis
cussion.

As night drew on, the city became a blaze of
light. Splashes of color, green, amber, and ruby,
caught the eye at every point, and " E. R.," in great
cut-crystal letters and backed by flaming gas, was
everywhere. The crowds in the streets increased
by hundreds of thousands, and though the police
sternly put down mafficking, drunkenness and rough
play abounded. The tired workers seemed to have
gone mad with the relaxation and excitement, and
they surged and danced down the streets, men and
women, old and young, with linked arms and in
long rows, singing, " I may be crazy, but I love
you," " Dolly Gray," and " The Honeysuckle and the
Bee," the last rendered something like this:

/tab\Yew aw the enny, ennyseckle, Oi em ther bee,
/tab\Oi d like ter sip ther enny from those red lips, yew see.

I sat on a bench on the Thames Embankment,
looking across the illuminated water. It was ap
proaching midnight, and before me poured the bet
ter class of merrymakers, shunning the more riotous
streets and returning home. On the bench beside
me sat two ragged creatures, a man and a woman,
nodding and dozing. The woman sat with her

[[148]]

p147 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p148w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p149

v?