-neck race between him
and all London, which should get down to Yorkshire first. A little after
one o'clock, his packet of letters was delivered to him; and within
another hour Sam was to be seen (quite comfortable, with a draught of
spiced ale given him by the cook, to make his hasty dinner "sit well")
on the top of the Tally-ho, rattling rapidly along the great north road.

"Come, Kate," said Mrs. Aubrey, entering Miss Aubrey's room, where she
was giving directions to her maid, "I've ordered the carriage to be at
the door as soon as it can be got ready; we must go off to
Coutts'--see!" She held in her hand two slips of paper, one of which she
gave Miss Aubrey. 'Twas a check for one hundred pounds--her brother's
usual Christmas-box--"and then we've a quantity of little matters to
buy this afternoon. Come, Kate, quick! quick!"

Now, poor Kate had spent nearly all her money, which circumstance,
connected with another that I shall shortly mention, had given her not a
little concern. At her earnest request, her brother had, about a year
before, built her a nice little school, capable of containing some
eighteen or twenty girls, on a slip of land between the vicarage and the
park wall of Yatton, and old Mrs. Aubrey and her daughter found a
resident schoolmistress, and, in fact, supported the little
establishment, which, at the time I am speaking of, contained some
seventeen or eighteen of the villagers' younger children. Miss Aubrey
took a prodigious interest in this little school, scarce a day passing
without her visiting it when she was at Yatton; and what Kate wanted,
was the luxury of giving a Christmas present to both mistress and
scholars. That, however, she would have had some difficulty in effecting
but for this her brother's timely present, which had quite set her heart
at ease. On their return, the carriage was crowded with the things they
had been purchasing--articles of clothing for the feebler old villagers;
work-boxes, samplers, books, testaments, prayer-books, &c. &c. &c., for
the school; the sight of which, I can assure the reader, made Kate far
happier than if they had been the costliest articles of dress and
jewelry.

The next day was a very pleasant one for travelling--"frosty, but
kindly." About one o'clock there might have been seen standing before
the door the roomy yellow family carriage, with four post-horses. All
was in travelling trim. In the rumble sat Mr. Aubrey's valet and Mrs.
Aubrey's maid-