CHAPTER IV 



AN INTERREGNUM 



A Bad Prospect — -Sunday's Employment : its Consequences — Spring 

 Gardens — The Great Chirurgeon — Irrelevant Conversation — 

 Convalescence — A Flash Dragsman — Useless Application — A 

 Visit to the Infernal Eegions — Lobster Salad — Gratitude — A 

 Country Drive — Glance at Paradise — Disappointment — A Bold 

 Stroke for a Box. 



It being then the depth of winter, when travelling is at 

 its lowest ebb, there was no immediate prospect of any 

 new start, and to wait for a vacancy in the old-established 

 coaches was similar to waiting for dead men's shoes. 

 Consequently, my situation was far from enviable. 

 Reflections on the past, which I could not scare from my 

 mind, and a restless and not very hopeful temperament, 

 although it did not altogether deprive me of reason, 

 caused me to commit many unreasonable acts. 



I was prevented in the spring seeking an appointment 

 by an accident that had nearly put an end to my ever 

 standing in need of one. 



My father's establishment in the City, of which he still 

 retained possession, besides the long coaches, was a sort 

 of rendezvous for short stag-es — that is, coaches from 

 places of ten or twenty miles distant, that would come in 

 in the morning, and return in the afternoon and evening. 



VOL, II. F 



