Chapter 51

“Sit still or I’ll smack you. Mind the gentleman’s trousers.” Hampton Court was a larger replica of the railway carriage. Humanity was spilt about it like confetti after a wedding. The bridge was a jam of cars and pedestrians, and the road space opposite the entrance to the palace adventurous with trams and ’buses and dawdling crowds. Lance’s eyes had a restiveness. Crowds were very well when you came out to study them—but to be one of a holiday crowd—with a girl at your elbow. . . . ! He said: “Damn all these peop…