Mrs General; outside, some of the retainers, and (in fine weather)
Edward Dorrit, Esquire, for whom the box was reserved. Then came
the chariot containing Frederick Dorrit, Esquire, and an empty place
occupied by Edward Dorrit, Esquire, in wet weather. Then came the
fourgon with the rest of the retainers, the heavy baggage, and as much
as it could carry of the mud and dust which the other vehicles left
behind.

These equipages adorned the yard of the hotel at Martigny, on the return
of the family from their mountain excursion. Other vehicles were there,
much company being on the road, from the patched Italian Vettura--like
the body of a swing from an English fair put upon a wooden tray on
wheels, and having another wooden tray without wheels put atop of it--to
the trim English carriage. But there was another adornment of the
hotel which Mr Dorrit had not bargained for. Two strange travellers
embellished one of his rooms.

The Innkeeper, hat in hand in the yard, swore to the courier that he was
blighted, that he was desolated, that he was profoundly afflicted, that
he was the most miserable and unfortunate of beasts, that he had the
head of a wooden pig. He ought never to have made the concession, he
said, but the very genteel lady had so passionately prayed him for the
accommodation of that room to dine in, only for a little half-hour, that
he had been vanquished. The little half-hour was expired, the lady and
gentleman were taking their little dessert and half-cup of coffee, the
note was paid, the horses were ordered, they would depart immediately;
but, owing to an unhappy destiny and the curse of Heaven, they were not
yet gone.

Nothing could exceed Mr Dorrit's indignation, as he turned at the foot
of the staircase on hearing these apologies. He felt that the family
dignity was struck at by an assassin's hand. He had a sense of his
dignity, which was of the most exquisite nature. He could detect a
design upon it when nobody else had any perception of the fact. His
life was made an agony by the number of fine scalpels that he felt to be
incessantly engaged in dissecting his dignity.

'Is it possible, sir,' said Mr Dorrit, reddening excessively, 'that you
have--ha--had the audacity to place one of my rooms at the disposition
of any other person?'

Thousands of pardons! It was the host's profound misfortune to have been
overcome by that too genteel lady. He besought Monseigneur not to enrage
himself. He threw hims