"
With that the captain turned and galloped away; and Tom was left
looking after him, wondering what the meaning of this last charge
could be.
CHAPTER III. IN GAY LONDON TOWN.
Tom Tufton walked through Bishopsgate, and along the crowded dirty
thoroughfare towards the Poultry, with a jaunty air of unconcern
that did credit to his powers of dissimulation.
It was Captain Jack's parting word to him to dissemble all outward
signs of astonishment at what he might see when he entered the
city; to walk on without stopping to stare or gape, to look as
though such sights were of everyday occurrence in his life, and to
bear himself with a bold and self-sufficient air, as much as to
tell the world at large that he was very well able to take care of
himself, and that roisterers and bullies had better let him alone.
Tom acted his part with considerable acumen; but within he was
consumed by astonished bewilderment, which increased as he turned
westward towards Cheapside, and approached the still fashionable
regions of Holborn and its environments.
The streets appeared to the country-bred youth to teem with life.
Everything he set eyes on was strange and wonderful. The shops with
their wares displayed, and noisy apprentices crying out to buyers,
or exchanging fisticuffs with each other by way of interlude; the
coaches carrying fine ladies hither and thither, tightly laced,
swelled out with hoops, their hair so towering in its lace and
powder as to provoke the query as to how it had ever attained such
gigantic proportions; the gay gallants in their enormous perukes of
powdered hair, and their wonderful flowered vests and gold-laced
coats--all these things provoked the keenest wonder and amazement
in Tom's breast; albeit he walked on without pausing to examine one
more than another, or to exchange a word with any save some
honest-looking shopman, of whom he would ask the way to Master
Cale's shop just off Holborn.
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