in the inn came again landlady and chamberlain, and from
the stable ostler and boy, obsequious all and of no interest to Mr.
Caryll.

Then the door of the coach was opened, the steps were let down, and
there emerged--his hand upon the shoulder of the servant--a very ferret
of a man in black, with a parson's bands and neckcloth, a coal-black
full-bottomed wig, and under this a white face, rather drawn and
haggard, and thin lips perpetually agrin to flaunt two rows of yellow
teeth disproportionately large. After him, and the more remarkable by
contrast, came a tall, black-faced fellow, very brave in buff-colored
cloth, with a fortune in lace at wrist and throat, and a heavily
powdered tie-wig.

Lackey, chamberlain and parson attended his alighting, and then he
joined their ranks to attend in his turn--hat under arm--the last of
these odd travellers.

The interest grew. Mr. Caryll felt that the climax was about to be
presented, and he leaned farther forward that he might obtain a better
view of the awaited personage. In the silence he caught a rustle of
silk. A flowered petticoat appeared--as much of it as may be seen from
the knee downwards--and from beneath this the daintiest foot conceivable
was seen to grope an instant for the step. Another second and the rest
of her emerged.

Mr. Caryll observed--and be it known that he had the very shrewdest eye
for a woman, as became one of the race from which on his mother's side
he sprang--that she was middling tall, chastely slender, having, as he
judged from her high waist, a fine, clean length of limb. All this he
observed and approved, and prayed for a glimpse of the face which her
silken hood obscured and screened from his desiring gaze. She raised
it at that moment--raised it in a timid, frightened fashion, as one who
looks fearfully about to see that she is not remarked--and Mr. Caryll
had a glimpse of an oval face, pale with a warm pallor--like the pallor
of the peach, he thought, and touched, like the peach, with a faint hint
of pink in either cheek. A pair of eyes, large, brown, and gentle as
a saint's, met his, and Mr. Caryll realized that she was beautiful and
that it might be good to look into those eyes at closer quarters.

Seeing him, a faint exclamation escaped her, and she turned away in
sudden haste to enter the inn. The fine gentleman looked up and scowled;
the parson looked up and trembled; the ostler and his boy looked up and
grinned. Then all swept forw