there was not a house to be seen, she found that
it was in the carriage.

She fidgeted, and looked about, feeling with her foot under the opposite
seat, expecting to find a basket somewhere, and determined if she found
one to push it out quietly and say nothing; for that she should drive
for two hours with her handkerchief up to her nose was more than anybody
could expect of her. Already she had done more than anybody ought to
expect of her, she reflected, in going to the expense of the journey and
the inconvenience of the absence from home for Anna's sake, and she
hoped that Anna felt grateful. She had never yet shrunk from her duty
towards Anna, or indeed from her duty towards anyone, and she was sure
she never would; but her duty certainly did not include the passive
endurance of offensive smells.

"What are you looking for?" asked Anna.

"Why, the fish."

"Oh, do you smell it too?"

"Smell it? I should think I did. It's killing me."

"Oh, poor Susie!" laughed Anna, who was possessed by an uncontrollable
desire to laugh at everything. The conveyance (it could hardly be called
a carriage) in which they were seated, and which she supposed was the
one destined for her use if she lived at Kleinwalde, was unlike anything
she had yet seen. It was very old, with enormous wheels, and bumped
dreadfully, and the seat was so constructed that she was continually
slipping forward and having to push herself back again. It was lined
throughout, including the hood, with a white and black shepherd's plaid
in large squares, the white squares mellowed by the stains of use and
time to varying shades of brown and yellow; when Miss Leech's umbrella
was blown aside by a gust of wind Anna could see her coachman's drab
coat, with a little end of white tape that he had forgotten to tie, and
whose uses she was unable to guess, fluttering gaily between its tails
in the wind; on the left side of the box was a very big and gorgeous
coat of arms in green and white, Uncle Joachim's colours; and whichever
way she turned her head, there was the overpowering smell of fish. "We
must be taking our dinner home with us," she said, "but I don't see it
anywhere."

"There isn't anything under the seats. Perhaps the man has got it on the
box. Ask him, Anna; I really can't stand it."

Anna did not quite know how to attract his attention. It seemed
undignified to poke him, but she did not know his name, and the wind
blew her voice back in the directi