been at the door this half-hour, and all the house
searching after you."

I did not deign a reply, but followed him,
as he led me by a short path to the house.
Mrs. Keats and Miss Herbert had taken their
places inside the carriage, and, to my ineffable
disgust, there was the German chatting with
them at the door, and actually presenting a
bouquet the landlord had just culled for her.
Unable to confront the fellow with that contemptuous
indifference which I knew with a
little time and preparation I could summon to
my aid, I scaled up to my leathern attic and let
down the blinds.

"Do you mean," said I, through a small slit
in my curtain—" do you mean to sit smoking
there all day? Will you never drive on?" And
now, with a crash of bolts and a jarring of
cordage, like what announces the launch of a
small ship, the heavy conveniency lurched,
surged, and, after two or three convulsive
bounds, lumbered along, and we started on our
day's journey. As we bumped along, I remembered
that I had never wished the ladies a "good
morning," nor addressed them in any way; so
completely had my selfish preoccupation immersed
me in my own annoyances, that I actually
forgot the commonest attentions of every-day
life. I was pained by this rudeness on my part,
and waited with impatience for our first change
of horses to repair my omission. Before, however,
we had gone a couple of miles, the little
window at my back was opened, and I heard the
old lady's voice, asking if I had ever chanced
upon a more comfortable country inn, or with
better beds?

"Not bad—not bad," said I, peevishly. "I
had such a mass of letters to write that I got
little sleep. In fact, I scarcely could say I
took any rest."

While the old lady expressed her regretful
condolences at this, I saw that Miss Herbert
pinched her lips together as if to avoid a laugh,
and the bitter thought crossed me, " She knows
it all!"

"I am easily put out, besides," said I.
"That is, at certain times I am easily irritated,
and a vulgar German fellow who supped with
us last night so ruffled my temper, that I assure
you he continued to go through my head till
morning."

"Oh, don't call him vulgar!" broke in Miss
Herbert; "surely there could be nothing more
quiet or unpretending than his manners."

"If I were to hunt for an epithet for a
month," retorted I, "a more suitable one would
never occur to me. The fellow was evidently
an actor of some kind—perhaps a rope-dancer."

She burst in with an exclamation, but at the
same time Mrs. Keats interposed, and though
her words were perfectly inaudible to me, I had
no difficulty in gathering their import, and saw
that "the young person" was undergoing a
pretty smart lecture for her presumption in
daring to differ in opinion with my royal highness.
I suppose it was very ignoble of me, but I was
delighted at it. I was right glad that the old
woman administered that sharp castigation, and
I burned even with impatience to throw in a
shell myself and increase the discomfiture.
Mrs. Keats finished her gallop at last, and I
took up the running.

"You were fortunate, madam," said I, "in
the indisposition that confined you to your room,
and which rescued you from the underbred presumption
of this man's manners. I have travelled
much, I have mixed largely, I may say
with every rank and condition, and in every
country of Europe, so that I am not pronouncing
the opinion of one totally inadequate to form a
judgment——"

"Certainly not, sir. Listen to that, young
lady," muttered she, in a sort of under growl.

"In fact," resumed I, "it is one of my especial
amusements to observe and note the forms of
civilisation implied by mere conventional habits.
If, from circumstances not necessary to particularise,
certain advantages have favoured this
pursuit——"

When I had reached thus far in my very
pompous preface, the clatter of a horse coming
up at full speed arrested my attention, and
at the very moment the German himself, the
identical subject of our talk, dashed up to the
carriage window, and with a few polite words
handed in a small volume to Miss Herbert,
which it seems he had promised to give her, but
could not accomplish before, in consequence of
the abrupt haste of our departure. The explanation
did not occupy an entire minute, and
he was gone and out of sight at once. And now
the little window was closed, and I could distinctly
hear that Mrs. Keats was engaged in
one of those salutary exercises by which age
communicates its experiences to youth. I wished
I could have opened a little chink to listen to
it, but I could not do so undetected, so I had
to console myself by imagining all the shrewd
and disagreeable remarks she must have made.
Morals has its rhubarb as well as medicine,
wholesome, doubtless, when down, but marvellously
nauseous and very hard to swallow, and
I felt that the young person was getting a full
dose; indeed, I could catch two very significant
words, which came and came again in the allocution,
and the very utterance of which added
to their sharpness: "levity," "encouragement."
There they were again!

"Lay it on, old lady," muttered I; "your
precepts are sound; never was there a case
more meet for their application. Never mind
a little pain either—one must touch the quick
to make the cautery effectual. She will be all
the better for the lesson, and she has well earned
it!"

Oh, Potts! Potts! was not this very hard-
hearted and ungenerous? Why should the
sorrow of that young creature have been a
pleasure to you? Is it possible that the mean
sentiment of revenge has had any share in this?
Are you angry with her that she liked that
man's conversation and turned to him in preference
to you? You surely cannot be actuated
by a motive so base as this? Is it for herself,