The Coachmaster 



and rloht orlatl he was to have made his 

 way to this at last, although as yet the gay 

 coach and the sturdy horses were none of 

 his own. His careful, good driving, his 

 punctuality, and his whole cheery person- 

 ality soon won their way with the pas- 

 sengers, and he became one of the favourite 

 coachmen on the road. It was, indeed, 

 quite usual for passengers to inquire at 

 the office when Hyde's coach would start, 

 as they wished to travel by that, and would 

 be willing to delay or hasten their depar- 

 ture, in order to do so. The Rudds were 

 an odd family. The father was a man of 

 nearly eighty years, with shaggy white hair 

 and fierce eyes like an old lion, and one 

 that could swear with any man in England. 

 The sons were surly, ill-conditioned fellows 

 enough, who greatly resented the fact of 

 my father's popularity, and answered some- 

 times rudely enough — "Hyde's coach? 

 Hyde hasn't got a coach : he's our servant," 

 and became at last so offensive to my 

 Father's friends, and so tyrannical in their 

 treatment of himself, that a little company 

 of the most frequent passengers laid their 

 heads together and decided that matters 

 should go on in such a way no longer. 

 The outcome of their discussion I shall 

 delay telling a while, to relate a little 

 37 



