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CHAPTER XIV.
A ROBBERY AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.
By these means Thaddeus slowly acquired sufficient strength to allow
him to quit his dressing-gown, and prepare for a walk.
A hard frost had succeeded to the chilling damps of November; and
looking out of the window, he longed, almost eagerly, to inhale again
the fresh air. After some tender altercations with Mrs. Robson, who
feared to trust him even down stairs, he at length conquered; and
taking the little William by his hand, folded his pelisse round him,
and promising to venture no further than the King's Mews, was
suffered to go out.
As he expected, he found the keen breeze act like a charm on his
debilitated frame; and with braced nerves and exhilarated spirits, he
walked twice up and down the place, whilst his companion played
before him, throwing stones, and running to pick them up. At this
moment one of the king's carriages, pursued by a concourse of people,
suddenly drove in at the Charing-Cross gate. The frightened child
screamed, and fell. Thaddeus darted forward, and seizing the heads of
the horses which were within a yard of the boy, stopped them;
meanwhile, the mob gathering about, one of them raised William, who
continued his cries. The count now let go the reins, and for a few
minutes tried to pacify his little charge; but finding that his alarm
and shrieks were not to be quelled, and that his own figure, from its
singularity of dress, (his high cap and plume adding to its height)
drew on him the whole attention of the people, he took the trembling
child in his arms, and walking through the Mews, was followed by some
of the bystanders to the very door of Mrs.
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