y
duty to go till I hear 'ee stirrin' about the room. Good deal past vore,
'tis I assure 'ee, zur." And here he thundered away at the door; nor did
he cease knocking till I was fairly up, and had shown myself to him, in
order to satisfy him of the fact. "That'll do, zur; 'ee toald I to carl
'ee, and I hope I ha' carld 'ee proper_ly_."

I lit my taper at the rush-light. On opening a window-shutter I was
regaled with the sight of a fog, which London itself, on one of its most
perfect November days, could scarcely have excelled. A dirty, drizzling
rain was falling; my heart sank within me. It was now twenty minutes
past four. I was master of no more than forty disposable minutes, and,
in that brief space, what had I not to do! The duties of the toilet were
indispensable--the portmanteau _must_ be packed--and, run as fast as
I might, I could not get to the coach-office in less than ten minutes.
Hot water was a luxury not to be procured: at that villanous hour not
a human being in the house (nor, do I believe, in the universe entire),
had risen--my unfortunate self, and my companion in wretchedness,
poor Boots, excepted. The water in the jug was frozen; but, by dint of
hammering upon it with the handle of the poker, I succeeded in enticing
out about as much as would have filled a tea-cup. Two towels, which had
been left wet in the room, were standing on a chair bolt upright, as
stiff as the poker itself, which you might, almost as easily, have bent.
The tooth-brushes were rivetted to the glass, of which (in my haste to
disengage them from their strong hold) they carried away a fragment;
the soap was cemented to the dish; my shaving-brush was a mass of
ice. In shape more appalling Discomfort had never appeared on earth.
I approached the looking-glass. Even had all the materials for the
operation been tolerably thawed, it was impossible to use a razor
by such a light.--"Who's there?"

"Now, if 'ee please, zur; no time to lose; only twenty-vive minutes to
vive."

I lost my self-possession--I have often wondered _that_ morning did
not unsettle my mind!

There was no time for the performance of any thing like a comfortable
toilet. I resolved therefore to defer it altogether till the coach
should stop to breakfast.

"I'll pack my portmanteau: that _must_ be done." _In_ went
whatever happened to come first to hand. In my haste, I had thrust in,
amongst my own things, one of mine host's frozen towels. Every thing
must come ou