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CHAPTER XVIII. 



T^EW of my readers will remember the old 

 -^ backney-coaches, and fortunate are they 

 who live at a period when they can be driven 

 about the metropolis and throughout all the 

 principal towns in hansom cabs and " four- 

 wheelers." The old hackney-coach was usually 

 a broken-down, rickety vehicle, that had evi- 

 dently seen better days ; it usually bore the arms 

 and crest of some noble family ; the lining, torn 

 and faded, showed signs of former grandeur, as 

 did the harness, now patched and tied together 

 with string. The horses looked more fit to 

 furnish a meal for a pack of hungry fox-hounds 

 than to go through their daily work. The 

 coachman, becaped and bebooted, was a long 

 time descending from and ascending his box, 

 and when seated there it required a large 



