grated on the ear; there was the
same quick, sharp, knowing pull-up at the main door, and the same
impatient stamp of high-fed steeds anxious to be off, and eager for the
rest and feed of the stable. I became irritated and angry. 'A pretty
house,' said I, 'for an invalid! Guests arriving at all hours! Moreover,
a precious lot of fresh faces shall I have to encounter at the breakfast
table. A nice figure I am! My walk particularly straight and lively! I
shall be "the observed of all observers" with a vengeance. I wish with
all my soul I had remained at Exeter. I had there my hospitable friends,
the Greens, in "the Barn-field," to keep an eye to me, while _here_,
carriages are driving up at a splitting pace from midnight to
cock-crowing.' And fuming and fretting, chafed and annoyed, I lay
feverish and discontented till daybreak.

"The next morning, having taken peculiar pains with my toilet, and having
arrived at the inevitable conclusion that I hobbled worse than ever, and
was as infirm as an old gentleman of eighty, I presented myself in the
breakfast room.

"I expected to find it lined with fresh faces. I was mistaken. The party
assembled was the same, without diminution or addition, which I had
quitted the preceding evening. After an interchange of civilities I
hazarded an inquiry:--

"'Where are the new arrivals?'

"'There are no new arrivals,' said my hostess; 'I hope you are not tired
of us already?'

"'You allude to an utter impossibility,' was my rejoinder; 'but beyond
all doubt two carriages drove up to the main entrance early this
morning.'

"'You are our only guest,' observed my hostess with an air of peculiar
gravity, and even perceptible annoyance in her manner.

"'You see us as we are, a quiet family party, Mr. Newburgh,' observed the
youngest daughter hastily, and then adroitly changed the conversation.

"'Oh,' thought I, 'I'm on unsafe ground. Some disagreeable people,
self-invited, and dismissed at all hazards. Very well. _Moi c'est egal!_
What concern have I with the family arrangements of another?'

"The second night of my visit drew on. I slept well and soundly till
about three in the morning, when my slumbers were suddenly broken by a
rapid rush of horsemen across the lawn, directly under my dressing-room
window. 'Hunting at three in the morning is a rank absurdity,' was my
comment; 'but if I ever heard the sound of horses and horsemen I did
then. The park gates must have been left open,