CH. XIX LENGTHS OF STAGES 439 



the stop at St. Germain, was not so pleasant to 

 drive as on the first part of the stage, especially as 

 it had surmounted a long, steep hill to reach that 

 point. The arrangement was therefore altered ; and 

 a stable was equipped at St. Germain, so that the 

 last change was made there, and the horses which 

 did the last stage to Maisons-Laffitte took the coach 

 back to St. Germain, no horses or men remaining 

 at Maisons-Laffitte overnight. A man from the St. 

 Germain stable was taken in the coach to Maisons- 

 Laffitte to attend to the horses while they spent 

 their two and a half hours there at noon ; he was 

 assisted by a local stable-man, and replaced by a 

 local man at St. Germain. 



This arrangement was a decided improvement ; 

 the last team was fresh and pleasant to drive both 

 ways. It took no more horses, and only required 

 accommodation in an additional stable for the noon 

 rest, and the services of one additional man, or of 

 two local men for half a day each. 



As this coach ran in warm weather and was fast 

 (19.4 miles in 109 minutes driving time, or 10.7 miles 

 an hour), the fresh horses at St. Germain were very 

 welcome, and since the original time-table provided 

 for a stop of five minutes there, no time was lost by 

 the chanore. 



The examples of twelve miles for a last stage, 

 and of this Maisons-Laffitte time-table, are the ex- 

 tremes, since the former gives a somewhat long 

 stage and those of the latter are very short. 



