She suggested that he should go back to his
flat. No, he wished to waste no time. Who knew how long he had got? It
might be only a day or two ... He would go to Covent Garden and talk to
the men there.
She was confused as to what happened after that. When they got to the
market the carts were coming in and men were very busy.
She saw the gentleman speak to one of them very earnestly, but he was
busy and pushed him aside. He spoke to another, who told him to clear
out.
Then he jumped on to a box, and almost the last sight she had of him
was his standing there in his soiled clothes, a streak of mud on his
face, his arms outstretched and crying: "It's true! Stop just a
moment--you _must_ hear me!"
Some one pushed him off the box. The pugilist rushed in then, cursing
them and saying that the man was a gentleman and had given him half a
crown, and then some hulking great fellow fought the pugilist and there
was a regular melee. Wilbraham was in the middle of them, was knocked
down and trampled upon. No one meant to hurt him, I think. They all
seemed very sorry afterwards.
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