8 STABLE SECRETS. 



thoughts of him when far away, Puffy Dodclles felt slightly 

 consoled with the reflection, and, with a lighter heart and 

 lighter step, strode along with his luggage. 



The Great Stable of the North was a long way off; but 

 time and distance having — to apply a familiar figurative expres- 

 sion of the head of the family of the Tops — " their heads licked » 

 off by steam," Puffy Doddles, after travelling a succession of 

 miles, and scores of miles, above the ground, and under the 

 ground, and through the ground, and between the ground, t 

 found himself, in the fulness of time, at the end of his journey, 

 as safe and sound as a crate of crockery, which had been 

 strictly preserved in accordance with the express directions on 

 the label — " This side up with care." 



As the Great Stable of the North " loomed in the distance," 

 Puffy Doddles bent a steadfast gaze upon its walls, and stood 

 for a few seconds on a slight eminence with the contemplative 

 air of a pilgrim with the sought-for shrine of his pilgrimage 

 in view. 



" That's it, is it 1 " said he, with a long-drawn sigh. " That's 

 the Great Stable o' the North ! " and then Puffy Doddles felt a 

 thousand associations flit through his brain connected with that 

 popular institution, and could scarcely get rid of the fear 

 but that he should wake suddenly from a dream too pleasant to 

 be real. 



Modesty is ascribed to be an unexceptionable attribute of 

 merit, and, therefore, in stating that Puffy Doddles gave a 

 modest pull at the handle of a bell within easy reach, and, 

 without waiting to be interrogated by the smiling, rosy-cheeked, 

 matronly-looking dame answering the summons, announced his* 

 Christian and surname, where he came from, and the immediate 

 object of his then personal attendance at the residence of the 

 chief of the Great Stable of the North in a manner anything- 

 the opposite of forward or bold, but governed by a strict sense 

 of the nicest propriety, nothing more than common justice is 

 done to his own personal introduction. 



