I shall
scarcely have lain down ere I shall be obliged to get up again. So
thinking, I set about dressing myself for the road; and by the time I had
enveloped myself in a pair of long Hungarian gaiters, and a kurtcha of
sheep's wool, with a brown bear-skin outside, with a Welsh wig, and a
pair of large dark glass goggles to defend the eyes from the snow, I was
not only perfectly impervious to all effects of the weather, but so
thoroughly defended from any influence of sight or sound, that a volcano
might be hissing and thundering within ten yards of me, without
attracting my slightest attention. Now, I thought, instead of remaining
here, I'll just step down to the coach, and get snugly in the diligence,
and having secured the corner of the coupe, resign myself to sleep with
the certainty of not being left behind, and, probably, too, be some miles
on my journey before awaking.

"I accordingly went down stairs, and to my surprise found, even at that
early hour, that many of the garcons of the house were stirring and
bustling about, getting all the luggage up in the huge wooden leviathan
that was to convey us on our road. There they stood, like bees around a
hive, clustering and buzzing, and all so engaged that with difficulty
could I get an answer to my question of, What diligence it was? 'La
diligence pour Paris, Monsieur.'

"'Ah, all right then,' said I; so watching an opportunity to do so
unobserved, for I supposed they might have laughed at me, I stepped
quietly into the coupe; and amid the creaking of cordage, and the
thumping of feet on the roof, fell as sound asleep as ever I did in my
life--these sounds coming to my muffled ears, soft as the echoes on the
Rhine. When it was that I awoke I cannot say; but as I rubbed my eyes
and yawned after a most refreshing sleep, I perceived that it was still
quite dark all around, and that the diligence was standing before the
door of some inn and not moving. Ah, thought I, this is the first stage;
how naturally one always wakes at the change of horses,--a kind of
instinct implanted by Providence, I suppose, to direct us to a little
refreshment on the road. With these pious feelings I let down the glass,
and called out to the garcon for a glass of brandy and a cigar. While he
was bringing them, I had time to look about, and perceived, to my very
great delight, that I had the whole coupe to myself. 'Are there any
passengers coming in here?' said I, as the waiter came fo