She decided she must be
tired, after all. Because here she was, with everything to
make her happy: Theodore coming home; her foreign trip a
success; Ella and Fenger to praise her and make much of
her; a drive and tea this afternoon (she wasn't above these
creature comforts)--and still she felt unexhilarated, dull.
She decided to go down for a bit of lunch, and perhaps a
stroll of ten or fifteen minutes, just to see what Fifth
avenue was showing. It was half-past one when she reached
that ordinarily well-regulated thoroughfare. She found its
sidewalks packed solid, up and down, as far as the eye could
see, with a quiet, orderly, expectant mass of people.
Squads of mounted police clattered up and down, keeping the
middle of the street cleared. Whatever it was that had
called forth that incredible mass, was scheduled to proceed
uptown from far downtown, and that very soon. Heads were
turned that way. Fanny, wedged in the crowd, stood a-
tiptoe, but she could see nothing. It brought to her mind
the Circus Day of her Winnebago childhood, with Elm street
packed with townspeople and farmers, all straining their
eyes up toward Cherry street, the first turn in the line of
march.
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