, they parted.

CHAPTER IX.

MORE OF THE DRAMATIS PERSONAE.

In a few days, so much for the proper nursing of Mark Forrester, and of
the _soi-disant medico_ of the village, Ralph Colleton was able to make
his appearance below, and take his place among the _habitues_ of the
hotel. His wound, slight at first, was fortunate in simple treatment and
in his own excellent constitution. His bruises gave him infinitely more
concern, and brought him more frequent remembrances of the adventure in
which they were acquired. A stout frame and an eager spirit, impatient
of restraint, soon enabled our young traveller to conquer much of the
pain and inconvenience which his hurts gave him, proving how much the
good condition of the physical man depends upon the will. He lifted
himself about in five days as erectly as if nothing had occurred, and
was just as ready for supper, as if he had never once known the loss of
appetite. Still he was tolerably prudent and did not task nature too
unreasonably. His exercises were duly moderated, so as not to irritate
anew his injuries. Forrester was a rigid disciplinarian, and it was only
on the fifth day after his arrival, and after repeated entreaties of his
patient, in all of which he showed himself sufficiently _impatient_,
that the honest woodman permitted him to descend to the dinner-table of
the inn, in compliance with the clamorous warning of the huge bell which
stood at the entrance.

The company at the dinner-table was somewhat less numerous than that
assembled in the great hall at the trial of the pedler. Many of the
persons then present were not residents, but visiters in the village
from the neighboring country. They had congregated there, as was usually
the case, on each Saturday of the week, with the view not less to the
procuring of their necessaries, than the enjoyment of good company.
Having attended in the first place to the ostensible objects of their
visit, the village tavern, in the usual phrase, "brought them up;" and
in social, yet wild carousal, they commonly spent the residue of the
day. It was in this way that they met their acquaintance--found society,
and obtained the news; objects of primary importance, at all times, with
a people whose insulated positions, removed from the busy mart and the
stirring crowd, left them no alternative but to do this or rust
altogether. The regular lodgers of the tavern were not numerous
therefore, and consisted in the main of tho