The Four Corners Abroad

ttle hotel for their stopping-place to which they drove directly. The party had amused themselves during the journey from Canterbury by choosing what they most wan

of a copy of Baedeker's London. "It would take weeks to do it all, and I suppos

ledged. "We shall have time only to skim off the cream

rambled up" as she said, and the time she had passed at Miss Barnes' school had been her only opportunity for real culture, but she was so bri

Abbey, but I hadn't an idea what it was like. Now, I shall never forget. It seems a stupendous thought that all this great number of celebrities should be burie

e twins soon wearied of looking at pictures, it was decided that Miss Helen should take

these things were so often mentioned in stories of English life, but when Jo asked for lemonade she was told there was none, but she could have a "lemon squash" which proved to be the same

Louvre," decided Nan, as, foot-weary, Miss Helen

are so many of the best examples of the best artists that one gets an idea of n

at for a sort of History of Art," Nan decided. "It will be a lovely

nd I am sure Miss Barnes would greatly approve of

o Get Next t

y with the rest of

d be nice to buy books at the places associated with the authors? For example I could get a set of Shakespeare at Stra

g you will enjoy, Nan. Don't spend more than half your money in England, however, fo

on of Rossetti, for you know he was the

nd proper, and you will find

time for the Portrait Gallery

they are. You will have mental indigestion if you try anything more. Perhaps you and I can sl

well enough, but I would

ou and I do pictures all day. There are the Walla

we shall be able to see both a

one day. To-morrow we have decided to go to the Tower, and as we shall then not be so very far from St. Paul

ahead of Mary Lee and Jo. Aunt Helen was always so ready

streets. Jo managed to get next to the driver and extracted a deal of information at the expense of a threepenny tip. In consequenc

t old place I ever saw," she complained. "They lock their gates and won't let you in unless you have a key. At home and in Paris all the squares are free.

s that are free," Nan trie

?" ask

Kensington Gardens and

f the window. "Nan," she said presently, "won't you go with me

tired I was till I reached home. I have been on my fe

ry far?"

far for a tired body lik

"London is an awfully big place

st city in

aid we'd get lost

p, and if we did stray into unknown reg

is a b

, big, kind policemen here; they

ment and present

Mrs. Corner as they wer

t. "She wanted me to go to Hyde Park with her," s

monkey could have gone off

d me whether I would be afraid of getting lost in such a big city, and I very innocently told her I woul

child alone in this great city! Al

he will come out of it all

tained by watching the people, and had been piloted home by a series of bobbies who proved very acceptable company. "One of them has a littl

I shall not have an easy moment. Some dreadful thing might have happened to you.

ry one speaks English. I sat quite still after I got to the park," Jack went on in an in

f by yourself. You have often been told that

ely. "I did remember that you had said that, mother

tever place we may be, that you must always come to me to ask permission before going anywhere at all.

emed a very reasonable one to her, and she could not understand why

to see her standing gazing curiously at one of the Beef-eaters, stationed at the point from whic

"I was just going to ask the Beef-eater whether he liked beefs

d hurried her little sister along to where th

story took place, I think it would be an excellent plan for us all to l

rosby Hall

hreaten to pull down, so this will probably be our last chanc

was discovered

pied by the Duke of Gloucester before he became Richard III, and no doubt he hatched

s it?" N

psgate within, I am not quite su

," said Nan. "I love th

out Crosby Hall, Aunt

s turned into a meeting-house, later into a warehouse, next into a concert hall. Now it is a restaurant and a very good one. I

pring on us, Miss Helen," said Jo. "

ve for lunch?" asked Jea

old her. "There is a fine grill at Crosby Hall where they cook a chop to perfection. While they

Dear me, I feel so queer to be sitting here where Shak

ng to make a

y, may

e conundrum about a col

make ghastly puns," she said. "Poor dear 'Lady Jane Grey,' and poor dear little p

we would better not try to imagine too much, for here come the c

Thackeray and all those? I'd like mighty well to stay in London long enough to prowl around all those old Dickens places. I'd like to see the Charterhouse, a

ve promised ourselves to come back. Lond

elen mentioned that if they started at once there would be time to see the

, Aunt Helen?" said Jean.

on, and scores of famous names are connected with it. If we had time we could see the church of 'St. Botolph without Bishopsgate' where John Keats was baptized, and could go to Leadenhall Street to see the old House of the East India Company, where Charles Lamb was a clerk for so many years

he French church at Canterbury

though I am told the old Dutch Protestant church is still in Austin Friars, a

go there,"

we shall become unhappy because we haven't time to give to all. That summer to come we will do nothing but w

I shall not be

Helen cheerfully. "One nev

," returned J

ng-school with us, and that she would be ten times better off than we were then, I am sure we would have l

tinue the Daniella story by saying that if any one had foreseen that one Jo Keyes would be over here

st see. Then there was another ride home on the top of an omnibus, this time Jack being the one who secured

intimacy between them. No one understood Nan as well as her Aunt Helen and there was no one to whom she more readily showed her inner self. Since Miss Helen was Nan's godmother as well as her aunt, Nan had a feel

d I do want to think calmly, for to me it is a very important question, whatever it may be to the others. I

et those," Miss Helen

ens and T

out d

and Rossetti here or trust t

m while you are sure of g

and, oh, dear, it is going

t what you're sure you want to-day and

we find time

n if we have to stay

onger and then Nan declared she was satisfied for that day, and they went off,

und a charming little photograph of the old churchyard, and on the way home bought a pretty copy of the Elegy in which to put it. There was a second visit to the National Portrait Gallery, taken one day when the rest were out shopping, and this

they settled themselves in the train. "And as for Aunt Helen, I know she

pastry cook's, and Mary Lee dreamed last night that

," began

didn'

y dream about monkeys

defy any 'bus driver in London

would have turned into a mummy if you h

said Miss Helen, looking at J

el as if I had met many old friends fr

he smoke of London was but a

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