154 STRAY-AWAYS 



railing and a locked gate. It was possible to go back 

 and walk through the church to the other door; it 

 was possible to lurk and starve in the churchwardens' 

 vestry till the service was over; it was possible to 

 scale the gate in full view of the Princess of Wales' 

 coachman. We chose the last ; we were even on the 

 verge of essaying it when a voice called hollowly to 

 us from the arched doorway, the voice of the church- 

 warden, and the coachman may easily have noticed 

 that we visibly dwindled from terror as the summons 

 reached us. To stand at bay is not a thing to be done 

 at a moment's notice with any sort of picturesqueness, 

 and churchwardens are of such dark and unlimited 

 significance. He did not, however, drive us before 

 him into church again ; he silently unlocked the gate 

 and thrust us forth, and much the worst feature of the 

 case was that we laughed. 



After this occurrence the Copenhagen Sunday, that 

 had opened with such a burst of church-going, fell 

 violently away from grace. There was immediately 

 luncheon, with Heering's cherry brandy, at a boule- 

 vard restaurant that looked like a bandstand and a 

 bungalow, and smelt of tobacco from obvious causes, 

 and took the Illustrated London News. (It is always 

 the Illustrated London News in Denmark, if it is not 

 the Lady's Pictorial.) Later in the day my cousin 

 went to visit the studio of a lady artist whom she 

 had met in Paris. I did not accompany her, and her 

 description of the visit inclines me to congratulate 

 myself. 



Having climbed for about ten minutes up a stair- 

 case of nightmare gloom and precipitousness, she 

 found herself at a half-opened door, through which 

 came a strong smell of tobacco, and presently, in 

 response to the whackings of her umbrella, a young 

 lady, who admitted both my cousin, and the fact 



