14000 MILES 



interest, and there we got a large package of letters, tied 

 up, just ready to be forwarded to Georgeville when our 

 countermand order was received. They had been follow- 

 ing us all through Canada, reaching each place just after 

 we left it. The contents were even more eagerly 

 devoured than the dinner at the Memphremagog House. 



Next in order was "How shall we go home?" By a 

 little deviation to the left we could go to the lovely 

 Willoughby Lake and down through the Franconia 

 Notch ; or by a turn toward the right we could go down 

 through Vermont into the Berkshire region, and call on a 

 friend in Great Barrington. As we had deviated 

 sufficiently, perhaps, for one trip, we decided on a drive 

 through central Vermont, which was the most direct 

 route, and the only one we had not taken before. This 

 route would take us to Montpelier, and through a lovely 

 country generally ; such a contrast to the Canada driving. 



The next ten days were full of interest; a good wetting 

 was our first experience after leaving Newport. The 

 shower came on so suddenly that we used a waterproof 

 in place of the boot, and did not know until night that the 

 water stood in the bottom of the phaeton and found its 

 way into our canvas grip. The large rooms we were 

 fortunate in having in that old ark of a hotel were turned 

 into drying rooms, and were suggestive of a laundry. 

 Our misfortune seemed very light when we read the dis- 

 asters of the shower just ahead of us. We passed, the 

 next day, an old lady sitting in the midst of her house- 

 hold goods on one side of the road, and her wreck of a 

 house, unroofed by the lightning or wind, on the other. 



We begged the privilege of taking our lunch in a barn 



167 



