genteel and well-carriaged the lady, the eldest, would be: how
womanish, and how grave; and the fool of a fellow told me
presently who she was; that she was Sir Thomas—-‘s eldest
daughter, of Essex, and that she was a great fortune; that her
mother was not come to town yet; but she was with Sir
William—-‘s lady, of Suffolk, at her lodging in Suffolk
Street, and a great deal more; that they had a maid and a
woman to wait on them, besides Sir Thomas’s coach, the
coachman, and himself; and that young lady was governess
to the whole family, as well here as at home too; and, in short,
told me abundance of things enough for my business.
I was very well dressed, and had my gold watch as well as
she; so I left the footman, and I puts myself in a rank with
this young lady, having stayed till she had taken one double
turn in the Mall, and was going forward again; by and by I
saluted her by her name, with the title of Lady Betty. I asked
her when she heard from her father; when my lady her mother
would be in town, and how she did.
I talked so familiarly to her of her whole family that she could
not suspect but that I knew them all intimately. I asked her
why she would come abroad without Mrs. Chime with her
(that was the name of her woman) to take of Mrs. Judith, that
was her sister. Then I entered into a long chat with her about
her sister, what a fine little lady she was, and asked her if she
had learned French, and a thousand such little things to entertain
her, when on a sudden we saw the guards come, and the crowd
ran to see the king go by to the Parliament House.
The ladies ran all to the side of the Mall, and I helped my
lady to stand upon the edge of the boards on the side of the
Mall, that she might be high enough to see; and took the little
one and lifter her quite up; during which, I took care to convey
the gold watch so clean away from the Lady Betty, that she
never felt it, nor missed it, till all the crowd was gone, and she
was gotten into the middle of the Mall among the other ladies.
I took my leave of her in the very crowd, and said to her, as
if in haste, ‘Dear Lady Betty, take care of your little sister.’
And so the crowd did as it were thrust me away from her, and
that I was obliged unwillingly to take my leave.
The hurry in such cases is immediately over, and the place
clear as soon as the king is gone by; but as there is always a
great running and clutter just as the king passes, so having
dropped the two little ladies, and done my business with them
without any miscarriage, I kept hurrying on among the crowd,
as if I ran to see the king, and so I got before the crowd and
kept so till I came to the end of the Mall, when the king going
on towards the Horse Guards, I went forward to the passage,
which went then through against the lower end of the Haymarket,
and there I bestowed a coach upon myself, and made off, and I
confess I have not yet been so good as my word, viz. to go and
visit my Lady Betty.
I was once of the mind to venture staying with Lady Betty till
she missed the watch, and so have made a great outcry about
it with her, and have got her into the coach, and put myself in
the coach with her, and have gone home with her; for she
appeared so fond of me, and so perfectly deceived by my so
readily talking to her of all her relations and family, that I
thought it was very easy to push the thing farther, and to have
got at least the necklace of pearl; but when I considered that
though the child would not perhaps have suspected me, other