214 THE COACHING ERA 



"He may be very odd," assented the gentleman thus 

 spoken of, taking off his hat and making a profound 

 bow, "I dare say he is, but odd as he is, he is here, very 

 much at your service." 



"Poor man! I thought he would have sunk into 

 his boots and vanished through the bed of the carriage, 

 he was so distressed," commented Sydney Smith, adding 

 with his accustomed humour, "but I thought I had 

 better tell him, or he might proceed to say I had 

 murdered my grandmother, which I must have re- 

 sented, you know." 



As he was going on a visit to Lord Brougham, by a 

 night coach, two Scotch girls got in at Carlisle, one 

 remarking as she arranged her bandboxes: "It's very 

 disagreeable getting into a coach in the dark, it's im- 

 possible to see one's company." 



"Very true, ma'am, and you have a great loss in 

 not seeing me, for I am a remarkably handsome man," 

 responded Sydney Smith with much promptitude. 



"No, sir! Are you really?" exclaimed the ladies, 

 pleasurable excited. 



"Yes, and in the flower of my youth," cheerfully 

 lied Sydney Smith, who was elderly and fat. The coach 

 passed a street lamp, and the girls caught a brief and 

 indistin^l: vision of the bulky form opposite them. 



"La, sir, you seem very stout," said one doubtfully. 



"Oh no, not at all, ma'am, it's only my greatcoat," 

 he assured her earnestly. 



"Where are you going, sir?" was the next inquiry. 



"To Brougham Hall." 



