she sent down to be dried, her companion, meanwhile,
putting a couple of sovereigns on the table, as if anxious to make
everything smooth and comfortable at starting, and requesting that a
private sitting-room might be got ready. The landlord assured him that
the best upstairs parlour--usually public--should be kept private this
evening, and sent the maid to light the candles. Dinner was prepared for
them, and, at the gentleman's desire, served in the same apartment;
where, the young lady having joined him, they were left to the rest and
refreshment they seemed to need.

That something was peculiar in the relations of the pair had more than
once struck the landlord, though wherein that peculiarity lay it was hard
to decide. But that his guest was one who paid his way readily had been
proved by his conduct, and dismissing conjectures, he turned to practical
affairs.

About nine o'clock he re-entered the hall, and, everything being done for
the day, again walked up and down, occasionally gazing through the glass
door at the prospect without, to ascertain how the weather was
progressing. Contrary to prognostication, snow had ceased falling, and,
with the rising of the moon, the sky had partially cleared, light fleeces
of cloud drifting across the silvery disk. There was every sign that a
frost was going to set in later on. For these reasons the distant rising
road was even more distinct now between its high banks than it had been
in the declining daylight. Not a track or rut broke the virgin surface
of the white mantle that lay along it, all marks left by the lately
arrived travellers having been speedily obliterated by the flakes falling
at the time.

And now the landlord beheld by the light of the moon a sight very similar
to that he had seen by the light of day. Again a black spot was
advancing down the road that margined the coast. He was in a moment or
two enabled to perceive that the present vehicle moved onward at a more
headlong pace than the little carriage which had preceded it; next, that
it was a brougham drawn by two powerful horses; next, that this carriage,
like the former one, was bound for the hotel-door. This desirable
feature of resemblance caused the landlord to once more withdraw the sand-
bag and advance into the porch.

An old gentleman was the first to alight. He was followed by a young
one, and both unhesitatingly came forward.

'Has a young lady, less than nineteen years of age, r