"Shovin' yerself," was the reply; "don't other people want to see same as what you do?"
[Illustration: "THE CROWD STRETCHED NEARLY ACROSS THE ROADWAY, IMPEDING THE TRAFFIC."]
For the crowd had already begun to press behind, and, stretching nearly across the roadway, was impeding the traffic. One omnibus, indeed, which had stopped to set down a passenger, remained standing, and the inside passengers had crowded out upon the roof to see what was the matter. From the shops opposite came the assistants, and they stood in the doorways, asking in vain for explanations, which no one could give. Conjecture, however, was frequent; and a butcher's bookkeeper, being a man of action, went off to rouse the nearest fire station.
In a minute more, the nucleus formed by one errand boy on a carrier cycle had collected about it a solid mass, which completely stopped the omnibuses and cabs, and gathered volume and consistency from every wayfarer who came within its influence. Even the errand boy himself, impressed with the seriousness of the situation, was convinced of the nearness of tragedy, and was busily setting forth to those around him what he had seen.
"Stand back, can't you?" cried an officious man upon the outskirts of the crowd on the opposite pavement. "How ridiculously people do act in an emergency! What's the use of crowding round?"
His neighbours looked resentfully at him.
"Stand back, can't you; stand back and give her air."
"Give _'oo_ air? You keep your'n on," said an on-looker, elbowing him back.
"Why, it's a girl, isn't it? At least, they told me so," said the officious man. "Why _do_ people push so? There's absolutely nothing to get excited about."
"Girl, I dessay. But she's in that house over there."
"Most extraordinary thing," said a tradesman, who was standing in his doorway. "That house is unoccupied. Been empty for three weeks or more."
"And they've only just found the poor girl inside," exclaimed the officious man. "Well, of all the useless, incompetent people in the world, I really do think the London police bear away the palm. And why on earth don't they keep the crowd away? Where _are_ the police? Here, someone go and call a constable."
No one showed any desire to resign his point of view; and the cabs going town-wards in a hurry turned down a side street to save time.