10 EARLY HARVEST. 



amends for the long neglect I had expe- 

 rienced, though as he said he feared I should 

 not find it a very lucrative appointment. 



I began my first journey down, and 

 performed it without meeting with any in- 

 cident worth recording. The weather was 

 exceedingly mild; for though it was the 

 month of March, it was more like May 

 or June, and all the windows were 

 up as I drove down the principal street 

 to the "Bull." This season, I must also 

 observe, was the earliest ever remem- 

 bered, and there had not been the slight- 

 est frost during the past winter. The 

 corn was ready for the sickle before the 

 end of June, and completely harvested 

 before July was out. 



On my pulling up, who should I see 

 on the pavement clutching his stick, but 

 my friend Monops, who, it turned out, 

 had driven the Fakenham coach down 

 the night before. On my getting off 

 the box he accosted me with 



