Mrs Varden
quite amiably and meekly walked upstairs, followed by Miggs, who,
although a good deal subdued, could not refrain from sundry stimulative
coughs and sniffs by the way, or from holding up her hands in
astonishment at the daring conduct of master.
Chapter 52
A mob is usually a creature of very mysterious existence, particularly
in a large city. Where it comes from or whither it goes, few men
can tell. Assembling and dispersing with equal suddenness, it is as
difficult to follow to its various sources as the sea itself; nor does
the parallel stop here, for the ocean is not more fickle and uncertain,
more terrible when roused, more unreasonable, or more cruel.
The people who were boisterous at Westminster upon the Friday morning,
and were eagerly bent upon the work of devastation in Duke Street and
Warwick Street at night, were, in the mass, the same. Allowing for the
chance accessions of which any crowd is morally sure in a town where
there must always be a large number of idle and profligate persons,
one and the same mob was at both places. Yet they spread themselves
in various directions when they dispersed in the afternoon, made no
appointment for reassembling, had no definite purpose or design, and
indeed, for anything they knew, were scattered beyond the hope of future
union.
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