arrested the waggoner in his smock-frock and clouted
shoes.

"Get in, Will, and take possession. Ha! hum! here are ladies: where will
we stow our feet? I declare Will is on their skirts already, with more
green slime than is carried on the breast of a pond. I believe he thinks
them baggage--lay figures, as they've turned aside their heads.
Gentlefolks for a wager! duchesses in disguise! I must make up to them,
anyhow. Ladies, at your service; I humbly beg your pardon for having so
much as thought of incommoding you, but indeed I was not aware of your
presence. Come, Will, tumble out again instantly, and do not let us be
so rude as to plague the ladies."

Poor Will! very stiff and tired, stared about him, disturbed and
discomforted, and prepared to perform the behest of his more energetic
companion.

Dulcie did a little of her "bridling," but said never a word; Clarissa
lifted her large, rather languishing eyes, let them fall again on her
mittens, and remained dumb. They speak before they were spoken to? not
they, they knew better. At the same time, when Will stumbled as he
alighted on his weary feet, they were guilty of an inclination to
titter, though the accident was excusable, and the point of the joke
small.

"You are very polite, sirs," protested Cambridge, making round eyes, and
reddening and blowing at being constituted the mouthpiece of the party
on any interest save that of victuals. "I vow it is very pretty
behaviour; but as it is a public carriage, I don't think we are at
liberty to deprive Joe of his money, and you, sirs, of your seats. What
say you, Mistress Clary?"

"I decline to give an opinion," answered Clarissa with great dignity; in
which she broke down a little by adding hastily, in half audible
accents. "Be quiet, Dulcie!" for Dulcie's risible faculties had been
excited in a lively degree. She had been crying so lately that there was
a hysterical turn in her mirth, and having once given way to it she
could not restrain herself, but was making all sorts of ridiculous faces
and spasms in her throat without effect. You see, these were two
ordinary, happy young girls; and the stiff starch of their manners and
pretensions only brought out in a stronger light, and with a broader
contrast, their youthful frolicsomeness.

"I think, sirs, you may come in--that is, if you keep your distance,"
Mistress Cambridge decided, with solemn reservation. With a multitude of
apologies and thanks, the two young