be confessed, he, while
seated near the inn window, had kept a pretty wistful eye upon all going
on without; and the horses marching thus to and fro for the wonderment
of the village, were only placards or advertisements for the riders.

There was, besides the boy now occupied with the horses, and the
landlord and landlady of the "Bugle Inn," another person connected with
that establishment--a very smart, handsome, vain, giggling servant-girl,
about the age of sixteen, who went by the familiar name of Cat, and
attended upon the gentlemen in the parlour, while the landlady was
employed in cooking their supper in the kitchen. This young person had
been educated in the village poor-house, and having been pronounced
by Doctor Dobbs and the schoolmaster the idlest, dirtiest, and most
passionate little minx with whom either had ever had to do, she was,
after receiving a very small portion of literary instruction (indeed
it must be stated that the young lady did not know her letters), bound
apprentice at the age of nine years to Mrs. Score, her relative, and
landlady of the "Bugle Inn."

If Miss Cat, or Catherine Hall, was a slattern and a minx, Mrs. Score
was a far superior shrew; and for the seven years of her apprenticeship
the girl was completely at her mistress's mercy. Yet though wondrously
stingy, jealous, and violent, while her maid was idle and extravagant,
and her husband seemed to abet the girl, Mrs. Score put up with the
wench's airs, idleness, and caprices, without ever wishing to dismiss
her from the "Bugle." The fact is, that Miss Catherine was a great
beauty, and for about two years, since her fame had begun to spread,
the custom of the inn had also increased vastly. When there was a debate
whether the farmers, on their way from market, would take t'other pot,
Catherine, by appearing with it, would straightway cause the liquor to
be swallowed and paid for; and when the traveller who proposed riding
that night and sleeping at Coventry or Birmingham, was asked by Miss
Catherine whether he would like a fire in his bedroom, he generally was
induced to occupy it, although he might before have vowed to Mrs. Score
that he would not for a thousand guineas be absent from home that night.
The girl had, too, half-a-dozen lovers in the village; and these were
bound in honour to spend their pence at the alehouse she inhabited. O
woman, lovely woman! what strong resolves canst thou twist round thy
little finger! what gunpow