xxin LETTERS TO MARCO 153 



friendly farewell at his boundary stile, and 

 we hastened home, where we arrived exactly 

 three-quarters of an hour late for our chops, 

 which we enjoyed nevertheless exceed- 

 ingly. 



After supper my wife retired early, and 

 I sat smoking alone in the large old oak- 

 panelled room of the inn, used for country 

 meetings and club dinners. The whole 

 household were at rest, and I almost ex- 

 pected to see the ghost of Sophia Western 

 or Parson Adams walk in. The new inn, as 

 it is called, is a very good specimen of the 

 George the Second period, just like Hogarth's 

 interiors, and the old room I sat in had been 

 altered very little ; our little bedroom was 

 entered through this room, and had one of 

 those old black four-posters with dimity 

 curtains which in old times hosts used to 

 declare " had been slept in by the highest 

 quality in the shire." No ghosts appeared, 

 and we returned home the next day. 



I have nothing much else to tell you at 



