ntiment, supremely disregardful of such trifles as
relevancy or connection. The retort--more or less courteous--seemed much
favored by these honest rhetoricians, and appreciated by the galleries,
who at such times applauded sympathetically, in despite of menace or
intercession of Vice-President or Speaker. Nobody, indeed, took much
notice of either of these two dignitaries; and they appeared perfectly
reconciled to their position. You would not often find orators and
audience understand one another more thoroughly; the easy freedom of the
whole concern was quite festive in its informality.

Having secured a portion of my English letters (one or more were
retained for the recreation, and, I hope, improvement of the
post-official mind), nothing detained me in Washington beyond the fourth
morning. I turned northwards the more cheerfully, because it involved
escape from a certain chamber-maiden, to whose authority I was subjected
at the Metropolitan--the most austere tyrant that ever oppressed a
traveler. That grim White Woman might have paired with the Ancient
Mariner--she was so deep-voiced, and gaunt, and wan. On the few
occasions when I ventured to summon her, she would "hold me with her
glittering eye" till I quailed visibly beneath it, utterly scorning and
rejecting some mild attempts at conciliation. I am certain she suspected
me of meditating some black private or public treachery; and I know
there was joy in that granite heart when circumstances brought me, at
last, in my innocence, before the bar of her offended country. On that
fourth morning, however, the mood of Sycorax seemed to change; there was
a ghastly gayety in her manner, and on her rigid lips an Homeric smile,
more terrible than a frown. Then I pondered within myself--"If her hate
be heavy to bear, what--what--would her love be?" The unutterable horror
of the idea gave me courage that I might otherwise have lacked, to
confess my intentions of absconding. But I avow that the liberality of
the parting largesse is to be attributed to the meanest motives--of
personal fear.

On the railway platform, shaking the mud of Washington from my drenched
boots, I purposed never to return thither. But I reckoned without my
future hosts, MM. Seward and Stanton, who, though I have trespassed on
their hospitality, now for some weeks, seem still loth to let me go.

CHAPTER III.

CAPUA.

The southward approach to Baltimore is very well managed. The railroad
m