of great moment across the road, when
their attention was attracted by shrill voices, and, looking in the
direction of the sounds, they perceived a conveyance which it will be
worth while to describe at length, as such things are not to be met
with every day, particularly now that railroads are making so great
innovations in our old habits and fashions.

It was a gentleman's caleche; the leather was somewhat spotted and
gray, which may be easily accounted for, however, by the continual
roosting of poultry on its roof. When or where the machinery had been
contrived, it would be impossible to decide, for, according to
historical date, suspended caleches existed in the days of Lajos I.
The form of the body might be compared to a water-melon cut in half,
which body was so convulsed by its four high springs at each
irregularity of the road, that the tongues within ran the risk of
being severed in twain when they attempted to speak, while their
owners would certainly have been pitched out, had they not held well
on by the sides. It was as impossible to open the doors as it was to
shut them, for which reason they were permanently secured by
well-knotted ropes. Above the two hinder wheels a large bundle of
straw was attached, which threatened at every jerk to light on the
heads of the inmates. Before this worthy ancestral memorial three very
quiet horses were attached, a pie-bald, a bay, and a white, all three
up to their ears in mud, and assisting one another with their shaggy
tails to whip the reins out of the coachman's hand, while their hides
exhibited various graphic traces of the whip.

In truth, the noble animals did not lack good-will, but only the
necessary capabilities for the station they now filled, being honest
cart-horses, neither born nor bred to draw an iron-springed caleche;
and, sensible no doubt of their inability, they paused every ten
minutes to draw breath instead, and to regard each other with doleful
expressions.

On one of these occasions--namely, when the horses paused, and did not
seem disposed to proceed further--one of the four individuals inside
thrust forth a head, and called in a shrill voice to the coachman to
stop.

The voice proceeded from one of the fair sex, whom we cannot at
present describe, as the shawls and mufflers in which she was
enveloped only permitted a glimpse of her respectable nose to be
seen; three other individuals filled the vehicle. Beside the lady sat
a figure in a fu