de to
side on its springs like a rickety skeleton. Its patched leathers shone
in the sunshine with the oil that had been used to freshen them, but the
borrowed lustre could not hide the cracks and repairs with which they
were defaced. The door-handles and other parts of the vehicle that were
made of copper had been carefully polished, and the vestiges of
silver-plating, still visible in the creases of the ornaments, denoted a
former richness which had been almost entirely worn out by time and use.

The _caleche_ was drawn by a stout, heavy horse, whose short and
lumbering gait intimated very clearly that he was oftener employed in
the plough and cart than in carrying his owner toward the capital.

A peasant-boy of seventeen or eighteen was perched on the driver's seat.
He was in livery; a tarnished gold band adorned his hat, and brass
buttons glistened on his coat; but the hat fell over his ears, and the
coat was so large that the driver seemed lost in it as in a bag. The
garments had been worn by many of the lackey's predecessors on the box,
and, in a long series of years, had doubtless passed from coachman to
coachman till they descended to their present possessor.

The only person in the vehicle was a man about fifty years old. He was
unquestionably the master of both servant and cabriolet, for his look
and deportment commanded respect and consideration. With head depressed
and moody air, he sat motionless and dreamy in his seat till he heard
the approach of other vehicles, when, suddenly lifting his eyes, he
would salute the strangers graciously and then instantly relapse into
his former attitude. A moment's glance at this person was sufficient to
excite an interest in him. His face, though hard and wrinkled, was so
regular and noble in its contour, his look so mild and yet so earnest
and penetrating, his broad brow so clear and lofty, that the most
careless observer could not doubt that he was endowed with the best
qualities of human nature. Besides this, there were unquestionable
indications that he had been a sufferer. If a simple glance at his
features did not impress one with a conviction of this fact, it was
confirmed by the fringe of silvery hair that straggled over his temples,
and the sombre, melancholy fire that glimmered in his eyes like the last
rays of expiring hope.

His dress was in perfect keeping with his physiognomy. It was of that
neat and simple style which always characterizes a man of the wo