annual
expenditure in many of them is from thirty to fifty thousand dollars.

It was after eight o'clock when Mr. George and Rollo went out; and as
soon as they came into the street at Trafalgar Square, they saw all
around them the indications of an extraordinary and general excitement.
The streets were full of people; and in every direction, and at
different distances from them, they could see lights gleaming in the
air, over the roofs of the houses, or shining brightly upon the heads of
the crowd in the street below, in some open space, or at some prominent
and conspicuous corner. The current seemed to be setting to the west,
towards the region of the club houses and palaces. The lights were more
brilliant, too, in that direction. So Rollo, taking hold of his uncle's
hand and hurrying him along, said,--

"Come, uncle George! This is the way! They are all lighted up! See!"

For a moment Rollo forgot his cousin Jennie; though the direction in
which he was going led, in fact, towards the hotel where she was.

The sidewalk soon became so full that it was impossible to go on any
faster than the crowd itself was advancing; and at length, when Mr.
George and Rollo got fairly into Pall Mall, and were in the midst of a
great blaze of illuminations, which were shining with intense splendor
all around them, they were for a moment, in passing round a corner,
completely wedged up by the crowd, so that they could scarcely move hand
or foot. In this jam Rollo felt a pressure upon his side near the region
of his pocket, which reminded him of his purse; and it immediately
occurred to him that it was not quite safe to have money about his
person in such a crowd, and that it would be better to give it to his
uncle George to keep for him until he should get home.

So he put his hand into his pantaloons pocket to take out his purse;
but, to his great dismay, he found that it was gone.

"Uncle George!" said he, in a tone of great consternation, "I have lost
my wallet!"

"Are you sure?" said Mr. George, quietly.

Mr. George knew very well that four times out of five, when people think
they have lost a purse, or a ring, or a pin, or any other valuable, it
proves to be a false alarm.

Rollo, without answering his uncle's question, immediately began to feel
in all his other pockets as well as he could in the crowd which
surrounded him and pressed upon him so closely. His wallet was nowhere
to be found.

"How much was there in it?"