the service, because he would not undertake
to drive them all night across the country without stopping to refresh
his horses. But he promised to go in quest of the waiter, who would
show him to their apartment. He was accordingly detached on that errand,
while our hero stood sentinel at the gate, till the arrival of his
valet-de-chambre, who, joining him by accident, before the coachman
returned, relieved him in his watch; and then the young gentleman,
exasperated at his messenger's delay, rushed, with fury in his eyes,
from room to room, denouncing vengeance upon the whole family; but he
did not meet with one living soul, until he entered the garret, where he
found the landlord and his wife in bed. This chicken-hearted couple, by
the light of a rush candle that burned on the hearth, seeing a stranger
burst into the chamber, in such a terrible attitude, were seized with
consternation; and, exalting their voices, in a most lamentable strain,
begged, for the passion of Christ, that he would spare their lives, and
take all they had.

Peregrine guessing, from this exclamation, and the circumstance of their
being abed, that they mistook him for a robber, and were ignorant of
that which he wanted to know, dispelled their terror, by making them
acquainted with the cause of his visit, and desired the husband to get
up with all possible despatch, in order to assist and attend him in his
search.

Thus reinforced, he rummaged every corner of the inn, and at last,
finding the hostler in the stable, was by him informed, to his
unspeakable mortification, that the gentleman and lady who arrived in
the chaise, had immediately hired post-horses for a certain village
at the distance of fifteen miles, and departed without halting for the
least refreshment. Our adventurer, mad with his disappointment, mounted
his horse in an instant, and, with his attendant, took the same road,
with full determination to die, rather than desist from the prosecution
of his design. He had, by this time, rode upwards of thirty miles, since
three o'clock in the afternoon; so that the horses were almost quite
jaded, and travelled this stage so slowly, that it was morning before
they reached the place of their destination, where, far from finding the
fugitives, he understood that no such persons as he described had passed
that way, and that, in all likelihood, they had taken a quite contrary
direction, while in order to mislead him in his pursuit, they had amu