Non-Fiction > Books > London, 1878 - Inland voyage

1 86 An Inland Voyage.
clock. Above all, at night, when the children
are abed, and even grown people are snoring
under quilts, does it not seem impertinent to
leave these ginger-bread figures winking and
tinkling to the stars and the rolling moon ? The
gargoyles may fitly enough twist their ape-like
heads ; fitly enough may the potentate bestride
his charger, like a centurion in an old German
print of the Via Dolorosa ; but the toys should
be put away in a box among some cotton, until
the sun rises, and the children are abroad again
to be amused.
In Conipicg]ic post-office, a great packet of
letters awaited us j and the authorities were, for
this occasion only, so polite as to hand them over
upon application.
In some ways, our journey may be said to
end with this letter-bag at Coinpicgne, The spell
was broken. We had partly come home from
that moment.