ure, Signor Riccabocca, in spite of
your cold-blooded proverbs and villanous books." The parson, as he said
this, brought down the whiphand with so indiscreet an enthusiasm on the
pad's shoulder, that the poor beast, startled out of her innocent doze,
made a bolt forward, which nearly precipitated Riccabocca from his seat
on the stile, and then turning round--as the parson tugged desperately
at the rein--caught the bit between her teeth, and set off at a canter.
The parson lost both his stirrups; and when he regained them (as the
pad slackened her pace), and had time to breathe and look about him,
Riccabocca and the Casino were both out of sight.

"Certainly," quoth Parson Dale, as he resettled himself with great
complacency, and a conscious triumph that he was still on the pad's
back,--"certainly it is true 'that the noblest conquest ever made by
man was that of the horse:' a fine creature it is,--a very fine
creature,--and uncommonly difficult to sit on, especially without
stirrups." Firmly in his stirrups the parson planted his feet; and the
heart within him was very proud.

CHAPTER XII.

The borough town of Lansmere was situated in the county adjoining
that which contained the village of Hazeldean. Late at noon the parson
crossed the little stream which divided the two shires, and came to an
inn, which was placed at an angle, where the great main road branched
off into two directions, the one leading towards Lansmere, the other
going more direct to London. At this inn the pad stopped, and put down
both ears with the air of a pad who has made up her mind to bait. And
the parson himself, feeling very warm and somewhat sore, said to the
pad, benignly, "It is just,--thou shalt have corn and water!"

Dismounting, therefore, and finding himself very stiff as soon as he
reached terra firma, the parson consigned the pad to the hostler, and
walked into the sanded parlour of the inn, to repose himself on a very
hard Windsor chair.

He had been alone rather more than half-an-hour, reading a county
newspaper which smelled much of tobacco, and trying to keep off the
flies that gathered round him in swarms, as if they had never before
seen a parson, and were anxious to ascertain how the flesh of him
tasted,--when a stagecoach stopped at the inn. A traveller got out with
his carpetbag in his hand, and was shown into the sanded parlour.

The parson rose politely, and made a bow.

The traveller touched his hat, without