rds, there were the horses still standing
at the door, and the driver, with a large branch of alder, whipping away
the flies from them, while the host continued to hold his place at the
carriage door. At last he entered my room, and said that the travellers,
two foreign ladies,--he thought them Russians,--had taken the wrong
road, but that the elder, what between fatigue and fear, was so overcome
that she could not proceed further, and entreated that they might be
afforded any accommodation--mere shelter for the night--rather than
retrace their road to Ragatz.

"'Well,' said I, carelessly, 'let them have the rooms on the other side
of the hall; so that they only stop for one night, the intrusion will
not signify.' Not a very gracious reply, perhaps, but I did not want to
be gracious. The fact was, as the old lady got out, I saw something like
an elephant's leg, in a fur boot, that quite decided me on not making
acquaintance with the travellers, and I was rash enough to imagine
they must be both, alike. Indeed, I was do resolute in maintaining my
solitude undisturbed, that I told my host on no account whatever to make
me any communication from the strangers, nor on any pretext to let me
feel that they were lodged under the same roof with myself. Perhaps,
if the next day had been one to follow my usual sport, I should have
forgotten all about them, but it was one of such rain as made it
perfectly impossible to leave the house. I doubt if I ever saw rain
like it. It came down in sheets, like water splashed out of buckets,
flattening the small trees to the earth, and beating down all the light
foliage into the muddy soil beneath; meanwhile the air shook with the
noise of the swollen torrents, and all the mountain-streams crashed and
thundered away, like great cataracts. Rain can really become grand at
such moments, and no more resembling a mere shower than the cry of a
single brawler in the streets is like the roar of a mighty multitude. It
was so fine that I determined I would go down to a little wooden bridge
over the river, whence I could see the stream as it came down, tumbling
and splashing, from a cleft in the mountain. I soon dressed myself in
all my best waterproofs,--hat, cape, boots, and all,--and set out Until
I was fully embarked on my expedition, I had no notion of the severity
of the storm, and it was with considerable difficulty I could make
bead against the wind and rain together, while the slippery ground ma