s. At the present time, when everybody went
in terror of his life, and to be suspected of any design against the
liberties of France was the same thing as being condemned for it, it was
no easy task even for the most innocent and well-conducted traveller to
get clear of a town like Brest.

The few merchants and tourists and nervous women who ventured were made
to pass through a row of soldiers, who examined their passports
narrowly, and sometimes ordered them to stand aside for further inquiry;
a command which sent the blood out of the cheeks of him who heard it,
and made him think no more of the mail-coach but of the low tumbrel on
which the victims of the guillotine took their last dreadful drive.

Even while I stood, there was one woman--a would-be traveller--who
failed to satisfy the officer on guard, and who, on being ordered back,
fell on her knees with shrieks and begged for mercy. And not one of
those who stood gaping beside me but said she would be in luck if she
got it.

Still more fuss was made about a horseman who demanded leave to ride
forward to Paris on an errand of hot haste. He was, to all appearance,
a gentleman's lackey, and, from the little I heard of the talk, spoke
English easier than French. He was ordered to dismount while the
officer carefully read his passport by the light of a lantern and
inspected his letters of introduction and even of credit. Finally,
after much suspense, he was allowed to remount, which he did in less
than a moment, and clattered away through the pouring rain out into the
wet night.

The sight of him made me envious indeed. What would I not give for a
sound horse under me and a sound passport in my pocket!

At last the diligence was nearly ready. The luggage was stowed in the
boot, and two great mail baskets were swung and padlocked on the bar
underneath. The four horses were brought out and put to, and driver,
guard, and officer retired to the hostel for a parting glass.

An impulse seized me then to slip out of the crowd and creep forward on
the road under the deep shadow of the wall. Far I could not go, I knew,
for at the barrier I should be detected and stopped. But the coach,
having been so carefully inspected at its starting-point, would, I
judged, be allowed through the barrier without further challenge. It
should not be my fault if I did not go through with it.

The rain was pouring in sheets, and on such a night no one would be
likely to walk ab