122 THE COACHING ERA 



at the door in what was apparently the middle of the 

 night, his master waking suddenly from a deep sleep 

 grappled with him under the delusion that here was a 

 burglar, or jumped out of bed with the impression that 

 the house was on fire. When he thoroughly awoke to the 

 fa6t that such things were not, he groped wildly for his 

 tinder-box and, by its feebly inefficient aid, at length 

 evolved a light. This successfully accomplished, he was 

 seized with the convi6lion that he would miss the coach, 

 and hurried into his clothes with feverish haste, seized 

 his bag, rushed downstairs to a hackney-coach, not daring 

 to wait for breakfast laid uninvitingly in the shuttered 

 dining-room. 



Charles Matthews, realizing that at five o'clock in the 

 morning the flesh has dominion over the spirit, impressed 

 on the Boots of a certain inn the importance of waking 

 him thoroughly. "If you see me still inclined to sleep, 

 don't leave the room; lift me out of the bed rather than 

 fail to rouse me." 



"Yes, sir," said the boots, and arrived punctually at 

 five. He knocked at the door, receiving no response 

 entered the room, and did all he could to convince his 

 patron of the urgency of getting up at once. All to no 

 purpose; Matthews grunted sleepily, turned over, pulled 

 the clothes round his neck, and buried his face in the 

 pillow. Persuasion being useless. Boots carried out his 

 instru61:ions literally, picked the adlor up in his arms, and 

 disregarding his struggles and strong language, deposited 

 him on the floor, where he held him till he had his solemn 

 word for it that he would dress forthwith. 



