Years passed away, and the bridge was opened by the King himself.

In course of time, the piers were removed; and when the people in Scotland-yard got up next morning in the confident expectation of being able to step over to Pedlar's Acre without wetting the soles of their shoes, they found to their unspeakable astonishment that the water was just where it used to be.
A result so different from that which they had anticipated from this first improvement, produced its full effect upon the inhabitants of Scotland-yard.

One of the eating-house keepers began to court public opinion, and to look for customers among a new class of people.

He covered his little dining-tables with white cloths, and got a painter's apprentice to inscribe something about hot joints from twelve to two, in one of the little panes of his shop-window.

Improvement began to march with rapid strides to the very threshold of Scotland-yard.