The Argosy — page 77: what you’re looking at

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

THe ARcosy- This Year at Dieppe. 65 Another stoppage, and C came round with the paper. True enough! There was my name written on it in an unmistakable English hand, with a direction underneath: that two places should be kept for us in that morning's diligence. It was like a bit of magic ; no sleight- of-hand ever equalled it. ‘It must be the spirits, you know!” said C——, having to dart round to his place again. “Tl show you the gentlefolks that gave me the paper yesterday afternoon at Eu, sir,” said the driver. A little over three hours, and then the long descent into Eu com- menced ; and the omnibus pulled up at its resting-place on the market- hill Out came a landlady, out came a maid; disappointed, no doubt, at seeing one solitary inside passenger, but politely evincing no surprise at the passenger’s condition. I had started from Abbeville in black silk and crape; I arrived at Eu a whitey-drab colour, looking like a column of spoilt flour. Madame whisked, and the maid whisked, and I whisked ; all to the admiration of the market-place. C went off with the driver to get the mystery of the paper explained. It was very simple—as most mysteries are when you obtain the clue to them. These people at Eu had expected some friends bearing the same name, but not ourselves. Four hours we had to stay at Eu. There was the church to see, Madame informed us, and Louis Philippe’s chateau, and Tréport, if we liked to go to it. We took the chateau first. It is very quiet and simple; ridiculously small, when regarded as a residence for a reigning king and his family ; but I dare say the change to it, from the state and grandeur of the Tuileries, must have been felt as a delightful relief. A glance at the church next, and then a drive to Tréport, a little place presenting no par- ticular seduction, and then back to Eu, to the table d’hote dinner, which was a very poor one indeed, even for the style of inn. ‘Thirteen francs to pay,” said the landlady, lumping it together. And dear enough, though it did include a bottle of ordinaire and two half-cups of coffee. A diligence this time, and four horses. Of all the heaps of luggage ever piled on a diligence, I think that particular diligence had the most. It was pretty well laden when we started from Eu; but at Tréport two ladies got inside, and their luggage alone would have filled a moderate waggon. The conducteur grumbled, the driver looked round, but the ladies could not appear at Dieppe without their costumes, so the boxes were hoisted up. The coupé had been unattainable, and we were full inside, eight persons. .C—— had his place by the driver, and how many climbed up to the banquette I was afraid to look. Away we went, with the fresh smell of the sea on the left, and glimpses of it gleaming through the approaching twilight. It was nearly dark, when sudden shouts assailed the diligence, and we were pulled up hastily. .A stout woman, with a girl of four or comicaocks (GO)