298 THE COACHING AGE. 



the coachmen that they should only pass each other 

 either at a change or stoppage, which was not an 

 unusUal arrangement on other roads. 



It happened, however, one day, that the coachman 

 on the ' York House ' violated this rule ; but Stacey 

 managed to pass him again before reaching Thatcham, 

 and when the 'York House' came by at a pretty 

 brisk pace, the ' Old Company ' coach was standing at 

 the Cottage with the horses off, and Stacey was at the 

 door with a spoon in one hand and a basin of soup in 

 the other, which he held up for the inspection of the 

 coachman and passengers on the 'York House.' It 

 is, perhaps, needless to add that the coachman was 

 very savage ; but the passengers seemed to enjoy the 

 joke greatly — they had to go three miles farther on 

 to Newbury before they stopped for dinner. 



Stacey continued working for Cooper until the 

 failure of the latter, when he got put on to the Bath 

 mail by Chaplin. As all Cooper's coachmen and 

 guards were paid by himself, it naturally happened 

 that at the time of his failure he was indebted to 

 several of them in considerable amounts, Stacey being 

 among the number, and in due course they substan- 

 tiated their claims in a legal form; the process I 

 could not understand exactly, but according to his 

 account an individual whom he designated a ' Master 

 in Chancery ' was mixed up in the business. 



