44 STAGE-COACH AND MAIL IN DAYS OF YORE 



(tlio' he saAV a thousand at first), but neither 

 wondered at it, nor seemed to suspect me who 

 laboured like a horse to rub them out. The 3 

 packet boats are now all on their side, and the 

 weather grown worse, and so much rain that there 

 is an end of my walking. I Avish you would send 

 me word how I shall dispose of my time. I am 

 as insignificant a person here as parson Brooke is 

 in Dublin ; by my conscience I l^elieve Caesar 

 would l3e the same Avithout his army at his l)ack. 

 Well, the longer I stay here the more you Avill 

 murmur for Avant of packets. WhocA^er AAould 

 AA^sli to live long should Kac here, for a day is 

 longer than a Aveek, and if the aa eather be foul, 

 as long as a fortnight. Yet here I could Mac 

 with two or three friends in a aa arm house and good 

 wine ; much better than being a slave in Ireland. 

 But my misery is that I am in the very AA^orst 

 part of Wales under the very Avorst circumstances, 

 afraid of a relapse, in utmost solitude, impatient 

 for the condition of our friend, not a soul to 

 converse Avith, hindered from exercise by rain, 

 caged uji in a room not half so large as one of 

 the Deanery closets ; my Boom smokes into the 

 ])argain, but the Aveather is too cold and moist 

 to be Avithout a fire. There is or should be 

 a proverb here : When Mrs. Welch's chimney 

 smokes, 'Tis a sign she'll keep her folks. But 

 Avhen of smoke the room is clear. It is a sign 

 Ave shan't stay here. All this to divert thinking. 

 Tell me, am not I a comfortable wag ? The 

 Yatcht is to leave for Lord Carteret on the llth 



