314 The Leather Plater. 



of daylight. He could talk of nothing else when he went back to 

 the inn to get his own breakfast, and it was not long before the 

 coach door again opened, and the new coachman (one of the 

 greatest swells of that road), apologizing for disturbing her, pro- 

 ceeded to ransack the whole inside of the coach under pretence of 

 seeking for a small brown-paper parcel which it is needless to say 

 he was unable to find. 



Now this coachman was far younger and less plethoric than the 

 old guard, and was, moreover, considered to be the best judge of a 

 woman and a horse down the road ; and the glowing eulogy he 

 passed on Annie's charms so raised the curiosity of the pretty bar- 

 maid that she stepped across to the coach to ask the lady inside 

 if she would not just step upstairs " to wash her hands and straighten 

 her hair a bit" an offer which Annie at once accepted. 



When she came downstairs again all traces of sorrow had dis- 

 appeared from her countenance j the cold water had added a 

 brighter glow to her beautiful features ; and she looked so fresh and 

 blooming as she sailed majestically across the bar passage, that 

 every one instinctively did her homage. Even " Old Ginger," the 

 oldest, surliest, and ugliest horsekeeper in the yard, raised his bat- 

 tered cap to her as he met her coming down the steps ; and the 

 portly landlord himself bustled to the coach door to open it and 

 hand her in a thing which he had never been known to do before 

 in his life. 



In the afternoon the coach rolled over the London stones. By 

 five the old Highflyer had "shot her rubbish" at the White Horse 

 in Fetter Lane, and the guard and coachman were seated in the 

 Magpie and Stump over the way, discussing their pipes and brandy- 

 and-water and their mysterious passenger at the same time. 



'Annie had plenty of money, for every half-year old Radford 

 used scrupulously to pay over to her the interest of her funded 

 property, and for which he invariably took her receipt. Living in 

 the private retired manner which they did up at the Lodge, Annie 

 had but few wants and fewer opportunities of spending her money ; 

 and except among the poor villagers (and it was a sad day for them 



