SUPPER BED-CHAMBERS. 77 



Then the man followed after the black lord, and sold his wife to 

 him for ten thousand pounds. But the next day she did not 

 return, nor the next, neither the next ; and so the man went to 

 look for her ; and lo ! he found her all dressed up in silk and 

 satin, 'lighting from a coach, and footmen waiting upon her. So 

 he says to her, "Why didst thee not return the next day?" 

 " Dost take me for a fool, goodman ? " quoth she, and stepped 

 back into her fine coach and drove off; and so he lost his hand- 

 some wife. 



Besides the kitchen, there were, on the lower floor of the inn, 

 two or three small dining or tea rooms, a little office or account- 

 ing closet for the mistress, and a tap-room, which is a small 

 apartment for smoking and drinking. These are all plainly but 

 neatly furnished. There is a large parlor above stairs, somewhat 

 elegantly furnished. The kitchen, tap-room, and office are low 

 rooms, and over these is the parlor. The dining-rooms are 

 higher, and over them are the bed-chambers. Thus the parlor 

 is allowed a high ceiling, level with the eaves of the roof, and 

 you enter it from a landing some steps lower than the bed-cham- 

 bers. The latter are carried up under the roof, with dormer 

 windows, and are very pleasant rooms. It will be seen that all 

 the traveler's apartments are thus made spacious at the expense 

 of height in the others, and that yet there is a convenient arrange- 

 ment and connection of the whole. 



We had supper in a little back room, as neat as care and 

 scouring could make and keep it. The table was much such a 

 one as Mrs. Marcombe, in Hanover, would have set for a couple 

 of tired White Mountain pedestrians, except the absence of any 

 kind of cakes or pies. The ham had a peculiar taste, and was 

 very good C. says the least unpleasant of any he was ever 

 tempted to eat. It had been dried by hanging from the ceiling 

 of the kitchen, instead of being regularly smoked, as is our prac- 



