ught he
might treat me as he would, perhaps expecting to draw money from me.
Instead of taking me to the inn, he brought me to a mill, in which
there was a woman. There was but one single room with several beds in
it, in which the millers and muleteers lay together. In that chamber
they forced me to stay. I told the muleteer I was not a person to lie
in such a place and wanted to oblige him to take me to the inn. Nothing
of it would he do. I was constrained to go out on foot, at ten o'clock
at night, carrying a part of my clothes, and to go a good way more than
a quarter of a league in the dark, in a strange place, not knowing the
way, crossing one end of the wood infested with robbers, to endeavor to
get to the inn. That fellow, seeing us go off from the place, where he
had wanted to make me lodge, hooted after us in a very abusive manner.
I bore my humiliation cheerfully, but not without feeling it. But the
will of God and my resignation to it rendered everything easy to me. We
were well received at the inn; and the good people there did the best
in their power for our recovery from the fatigue we had undergone. They
assured us the place we had left was very dangerous. Next morning we
were obliged to return on foot to the carriage for that man would not
bring it to us. On the contrary, he gave us a shower of fresh insults.
To consummate his base behavior, he sold me to the post, whereby I was
forced to go the rest of the way in a post-chaise instead of a
carriage.

In this equipage I arrived at Alexandria, a frontier town, subject to
Spain, on the side of the Milanese. Our driver took us, according to
their custom, to the posthouse. I was exceedingly astonished when I saw
the landlady coming out not to receive him, but to oppose his entrance.
She had heard there were women in the chaise, and taking us for a
different sort of women from what we were, she protested against our
coming in. On the other hand, the driver was determined to force his
entrance in spite of her. Their dispute rose to such a height, that a
great number of the officers of the garrison, with a mob, gathered at
the noise, who were surprised at the odd humor of the woman in refusing
to lodge us. With earnestness I entreated the post to take us to some
other house, but he would not; so obstinately was he bent on carrying
his point. He assured the landlady we were persons of honor and piety
too; the marks whereof he had seen. At last, by force of press