we had _merci_-d ourselves out of
their radiant presences.

I explained the direction we were to follow.

"Horrible countenance he had," she remarked, as we pursued our way.

"O, dreadful," I assented.

"Nobody knows where he may send us," she continued.

Sure enough! In our alarm we stopped short in the street, and stared at
each other with horrified countenances.

"I have heard--" I began.

"Yes; and so have I," she went on, shaking her head, and expressing by
that gesture most fearful possibilities.

A bright thought seized me. "He told us to turn to the _right_; we will
turn to the _left_!" And with that happy, womanly instinct, said to
transcend all judgment, _we did_. Strange as it may appear, though we
went on for a long half hour, no "_Trois Rois_" gladdened our eyes.

Suddenly Mrs. K. struck an attitude. "A fine appearance we shall
present," said she; "two lone women, dusty and heated, our arms full of
baggage, straggling up to a hotel two mortal hours after the arrival of
the train. We'll take a carriage."

To me this inglorious advent was so distant in prospect that it held no
terrors, nothing of mortification even. "_Les Trois Rois_" had become a
myth, an idea towards which we vainly struggled.

"If it were only across the street," she went on, rising to the occasion
and warming with the subject, "we would go in a carriage."

One approached at that moment. We motioned to it _a la Mandarin_, with
our heads, our hands and arms being full. The driver raised his whip and
pointed solemnly into the distance. We turned to gaze, seeing nothing
but the heavens in that direction. When we looked back, he was gone. We
should not like to affirm--we hardly dare suggest--we are sure of
nothing but that he vanished from before our eyes.

A second appeared in the distance. We began in time. We pawed the air
wildly with our umbrellas. The very satchels and wraps upon our arms
nodded and beckoned. In serene unconsciousness the driver held to his
course.

"Well!" I exclaimed, indignantly.

"I should think so," added Mrs. K., with emphasis.

"Is there anything peculiar, anything unusual in our personal
appearance?" I asked, glancing down upon our dusty appointments. As we
concentrated our energies and belongings for one final effort, a
benignant countenance smiled out upon us from above a _cipher_. We were
storming a private carriage!

The third attempt was more successful. The driver paused. We requested
h