startle even a Brighton bathing-woman! The change must have been
effected by the assistant in making up the parcel.

'Well!'

She could say no more, and think no more, than this 'Well!'

And, moreover, the condition of the packed gallery soon caused her to
forget even the final swindle of the corset. The air had rapidly become
exhausted. Women clutched at each other; women rapped frenziedly against
the heavy, glazed doors; women screamed. It was the Black Hole of
Calcutta over again, and yet no one in the blouse department seemed to
notice the signals of distress. Lily felt the perspiration on her brow
and chin, and then she knew that she, too, must scream and clutch; and
she cried out, and the pressure which forced her against the door grew
more and more terrible.... She had dropped the corset.... She murmured
feebly 'Alb--'.... She began to dream queer dreams and to see strange
lights.... And then something gave way with a crash, and she fell
forward, and regiments of horses trampled over her, and at last all
living things receded from her, and she was in the midst of a great
silence. And then even the silence was gone, and there was nothing.

So ended the first part of Lily's adventures at Hugo's infamous annual
sale.

* * * * *

When she recovered perfect consciousness, she was in the dome. She knew
it was the dome because Albert had once, at her urgent request, taken
her surreptitiously to see it. Simon was standing over her, as