h to
my surprise discovered that the diligence was not moving, but standing
very peaceably in a very crowded congregation of other similar and
dissimilar conveyances, all of which seemed, I thought, to labour under
some physical ailment, some wanting a box, others a body, &c., &c. and in
fact suggesting the idea of an infirmary for old and disabled carriages
of either sex, mails and others. 'Oh, I have it,' cried I, 'we are
arrived at Mt. Geran, and they are all at dinner, and from my being alone
in the coupe, they have forgotten to call me.' I immediately opened the
door and stepped out into the innyard, crowded with conducteurs, grooms,
and ostlers, who, I thought, looked rather surprised at seeing me emerge
from the diligence.

"'You did not know I was there,' said I, with a knowing wink at one of
them as I passed.

"'Assurement non,' said the fellow with a laugh, that was the signal for
all the others to join in it. 'Is the table d'hote over?' said I,
regardless of the mirth around me. 'Monsieur is just in time,' said the
waiter, who happened to pass with a soup-tureen in his hand. 'Have the
goodness to step this way.' I had barely time to remark the close
resemblance of the waiter to the fellow who presented me with my brandy
and cigar in the morning, when he ushered me into a large room with about
forty persons sitting at a long table, evidently waiting with impatience
for the 'Potage' to begin their dinner. Whether it was they enjoyed the
joke of having neglected to call me, or that they were laughing at my
travelling costume, I cannot say, but the moment I came in, I could
perceive a general titter run through the assembly. 'Not too late, after
all, gentlemen,' said I, marching gravely up the table.

"'Monsieur is in excellent time,' said the host, making room for me
beside his chair. Notwithstanding the incumbrance of my weighty
habiliments, I proceeded to do ample justice to the viands before me,
apologizing laughingly to the host, by pleading a traveller's appetite.

"'Then you have perhaps come far this morning,' said a gentleman
opposite.

"'Yes,' said I, 'I have been on the road since four o'clock.'

"'And how are the roads?' said another. 'Very bad,' said I, 'the first
few stages from Lyons, afterwards much better.' This was said at a
venture, as I began to be ashamed of being always asleep before my
fellow-travellers. They did not seem, however, to understand me
perfectly; and one old