e I had seen her last, but she was gone.

"All's safe, you see," said Lafontaine, trying to compose his ruffled
costume; "your John Bulls are dangerous, in their loyalty, to coats and
carriages." I agreed with him, and we sprang into one of the wretched
vehicles that held its ground, with English tenacity, in the midst of a
war of coronets. But our adventures were not to close so simply. Our
driver had not remained in the rain for hours, without applying to the
national remedy against all inclemencies of weather. He had no sooner
mounted the box than I found that we were running a race with every
carriage which we approached, sometimes tilting against them, and
sometimes narrowly escaping from being overturned. At last we met with an
antagonist worthy of our prowess. All my efforts to stop our charioteer
had been useless, for he was evidently beyond any kind of appeal but that
of flinging him from his seat; and Lafontaine, with the genuine fondness
of a Gaul for excitement of all kinds, seemed wonderfully amused as we
swept along. But our new rival was evidently in the same condition with
our own Jehu, and after a smart horsewhipping of each other, they rushed
forward at full speed. A sudden scream from within the other carriage
showed the terror of its inmates, as it dashed along; an old woman in full
dress, however, was all that I could discover; for we were fairly
distanced in the race, though it was still kept up, with all the
perseverance of a fool thoroughly intoxicated. In a few minutes more we
heard a tremendous collision in front, and saw by the blaze of half a
hundred flambeaux brandished in all directions, our rival a complete
wreck, plunged into the midst of a crowd of equipages, waiting for their
lordly owners in front of Devonshire house. It had been one of the weekly
balls given by the Duchess, and the fallen vehicle had damaged panels
covered with heraldry as old as the Plantagenets.

Arriving with almost equal rapidity, but with better fortune, I had but
just time to spring into the street, at the instant when the old lady,
writhing herself out of the window, which was now uppermost, was about to
trust her portly person to chance. I caught her as she clung to the
carriage with her many-braceleted arms, and was almost strangled by the
vigour of her involuntary embrace as she rolled down upon me.

There was nothing in the world less romantic than my position in the midst
of a circle of sneering footmen;