Richard Forrest, Bachelor — page 251: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

249 A LIVING SAINT. but if I attempt it t fear we should both perish. If the weather breaks send her onin the morning to Derby’s Stables. They are the best in Wallford, aren’t they? If it is stormy, await my orders. I will wire you directly.”’ It was nearly five o’clock, and the sun had set in a bank of gray, sullen-looking clouds. The stage was at the door, and Tony, who stood at the horses’ heads, with his hands in his pockets and a lantern swung over his left arm, was stamping to keep his feet warm. The vehicle itself, a lumbering, old-fashioned affair, was lighted with a single candle, the greasy odor of which, mingled with that of the fresh hay covering the floor, was far from agreeable. As Dick, after nodding farewell to the scraping landlord, took his place, and the latter slammed the door upon him, the driver gathered up his lines witha snap of his whip andasharply uttered, ‘‘pull up there now!’’ and they were off. It was too dark to see out of the frosted windows and too cold to do anything but wrap himself up in the only rug the coach afforded, so he stretched out and made him- self as comfortable as was possible under the existing cir- cumstances. Cheerless as his surroundings were, he was not sorry to be alone with his thoughts once more and beyond the reach of the endless tongue of the garrulous Perry. Before long, overcome by drowsiness, induced by the warmth of his blanket and the droning accompaniment of the cumbersome wheels as they creaked through the pack- ing snow, he fell into a sort of numb, uneasy slumber. Awakening with a start, he caught himself just in time Gomichbooks. com