*

Well, our journey was soon arranged on a grand scale. Pickering lent us
his new coach, just home from the makers in Cow Street. It was cushioned
and curtained and had springs in place of thorough-braces. It also had
glass in the windows and doors; a luxury then little known in England
even among the nobles. There was a prejudice against its use in coach
windows because of the fact that two or three old ladies had cut their
faces in trying to thrust their heads through it.

The new coach was a wonderful vehicle, and Frances and I, as well as
Betty, were very proud of our grandeur. Pickering sent along with the
coach and horses two lusty fellows as drivers, and gave us a hamper
almost large enough to feed a company of soldiers. I was to pay all
expenses on the road.

Almost at the last hour Sir Richard concluded not to go, but insisted
that Frances, Bettina, and I take the journey by ourselves. As Pickering
offered no objection, Frances shrugged her shoulders in assent, I
shrugged mine, and Betty laughed, whereby we all, in our own way, agreed
to the new arrangement, and preparations went forward rapidly.

By the time we were ready to start, the king, the duke, the duchess, and
many ladies and gentlemen of the court circle had gone to Bath, thus
giving us an opportunity to make our journey without the knowledge of any
one in Whitehall; a consideration of vast importance to us under the
circumstances. Some of our grand friends at court might have laughed at
our taking the journey with an innkeeper's daughter, in an innkeeper's
coach, but Frances and I laughed because we were happy.

There are distinct periods of good and bad luck in every man's life,
which may be felt in advance by one sensitive to occult influences,
if one will but keep good watch on one's intuitions and leave them
untrammelled by will or reason. At this time "I felt it in my bones,"
as Betty would have said, that the day of our good luck was at hand.

All conditions seemed to combine to our pleasure when, on a certain
bright spring morning, Betty, Frances, and I went down to the courtyard
of the Old Swan, where we found the coach, the horses, and even the
drivers all glittering in the sunshine.

There was ample room in the back seat of the coach for the three of us,
so Betty took one corner, Frances made herself comfortable in another,
and I took what was left, the pleasant place between them.

After Betty had kissed her father at least a doze