o care for her comfort! As I looked more carefully at
the pair (the rising moon now giving me sufficient light to do this) I
noted that the man's hand was slipped under the woman's cloak, and that
he was apparently holding her down in her seat by her wrist. A fresh
terror now assailed me--was I travelling with a lunatic and her keeper?
I vainly tried to obtain a glimpse of the woman's countenance, so
shrouded by her poke-bonnet and thick veil.

"The man was speedily snoring again, and I sat with my eyes fixed on the
cloaked figure, wondering--speculating. Poor thing, was she indeed a
lunatic travelling in charge of this rough attendant? Pity filled my
heart as I thought of this afflicted creature, possibly torn from home
and friends and sent away with a surly guardian; who, I now felt _sure_,
was not too sober. Was the woman old or young, of humble rank or a lady?
I began to weave a dozen romantic stories in my head about my
fellow-passengers, quite forgetting all my recent fears about the
'knights of the road.' So sorry did I feel for the woman that I leant
across and addressed some trivial, polite remark to her, but received no
reply. I gently touched her cloak to draw her attention, but the lady's
temper seemed as testy as that of her companion; she abruptly twisted
away from my touch with some inarticulate, but evidently angry
exclamation, which sounded almost like a growl. I shrank back abashed
into my corner and attempted no more civilities. Would the coach never
reach York and I be freed from the presence of these mysterious
fellow-passengers? I was but a timid little country lass, and this was
my first flight from home. It was certainly not a pleasant idea to
believe oneself shut up for several hours with a half-tipsy man and a
lunatic; as I now firmly believed the woman to be. I sat very still,
fearing to annoy her by any chance movement, but my addressing her had
evidently disturbed her, for she began to move restlessly, and to make a
kind of muttering to herself. I gradually edged away towards the other
end of the seat, so as to leave as much space between myself and the
lady as possible, and in so doing let my shawl fall to the floor of the
coach. I stooped to pick it up, and there beheld, protruding from my
fellow-passenger's cloak, _her foot_. Oh horrors! I saw no woman's
dainty shoe--but a hairy paw, with long nails--was it _cloven_?

* * * * *

"The frantic shriek I gave