The Coachmaster 



along with you ! " And the indignant old 

 man marched off between the two to the 

 office of him who had issued the writ, a 

 certain lawyer in Fleet Street. Here my 

 Father, in a great fluster and higher choler, 

 demanded an explanation, and the lawyer 

 had to tell him that a mistake had been 

 made, and that he saw now that the writ 

 was issued against a Mr. Hythe, not Mr. 

 Hyde, the former being also a coach- 

 master. And he thereupon tendered my 

 Father an awkward apology, which imme- 

 diately dispelled his indignation. 



Telling us of the incident next day, he 

 concluded by saying, ''Ah, that lawyer's 

 an uncommon good fellow : he spoke me 

 so civilly and nicely — yes, a very good 

 fellow indeed." 



''And so he need be," broke in Mary, 

 tartly ; she had felt the offence to her 

 Father far more painfully than he himself ; 

 " I should say he could not be too nice, 

 after makino- so shameful a blunder ! " 

 And my Mother too cried out on the man 

 for his scandalous carelessness. 



"Never mind, never mind," said my 

 Father. " He's a good fellow, a very good 

 fellow indeed. I must take him up a 

 basket of fresh fish to-morrow." 



My Father had one strange delusion ; 

 65 -t 



