If his conversation with the wheelwright had taken place in a chamber of the inn, it would have had no witnesses, no one would have heard him, things would have rested there, and it is probable that we should not have had to relate any of the occurrences which the reader is about to peruse; but this conversation had taken place in the street. Any colloquy in the street inevitably attracts a crowd. There are always people who ask nothing better than to become spectators.While he was questioning the wheelwright, somepeople who were passing back and forth halted around them. After listening for a few minutes, a young lad,to whom no one had paid any heed, detached himself from the group and ran off.