[Gutenberg 50511] • Loitering in Pleasant Paths

Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II. Olla Podrida. j]N one week we had been twice to Westminster Abbey, once to the Tower; had seen St. Paul's, Hyde Park, Tussaud's Wax Works, Mr. Spur- geon, the New Houses of Parliament, Billingsgate, the Monument, Hyde Park, the British Museum, and more palaces than I can or care to remember. In all this time we had not a ray of sunshine, but neither had a drop of rain fallen. We began to leave umbrellas at home, and to be less susceptible in spirits to the glooming of the dusky canopy upborne by the chimneys. That one clear ?for London?Sunday had made the curtain so nearly translucent as to assure us that behind the clouds the sun was still shining, and we took heart of grace for sightseeing. But in the course of seven smoky-days we became slightly surfeited with lions. Weary, to employ a culinary figure, of heavy roast and boiled, we longed for the variety of spicy entries?savory little dishes not to be found on the carte, and which were not served to the conventional sight-seer. One morning, when the children had gone to the Zoo with papa and The Invaluable, Prima ?the sharer with me of the aforesaid whim?and myself left the hotel at ten o'clock to carry into effect a carefully- prepared programme. We had made a list of placeswhere everybody did not go; which Golden Guides and Weeks in London omitted entirely, or slurred over with slighting mention; which local ciceroni knew not of, and couriers disdained, but each of which had for us peculiar association and attraction. Four-wheelers were respectable for unattended women, and cheaper than hansoms. But there was a tincture of adventure in making our tour in one of the latter, not taking into account the advantages of being able to see all in front of us, and the less stuffy odor of...