Violet Jacob > Flemington

A COACH-AND-FIVE
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“ turned to and got the horses out and on to dry
“ ground, and the postilion, a very frog for slime
11 and mud, began to shout, which soon produced
“ a couple of men with a lantern. I shouted too,
“ and did my poor best in the way of oaths to give
“ the affair all the colour of reality I could, and I
“ believe I was successful. The noise brought
“ more people about us, and with them my
“lord’s brother, Captain Logie, hurrying to the
“ rescue with a fellow who had run to the house
“ with news of our trouble. The result was
“ that we ended our night, the coach with a
“ cracked axle and a hole in the panel, the postil-
“ ion in the servants’ hall with half a bottle of
“ good Scots whisky inside him, the horses—
“ one with a broken knee—in the stable, and
“ myself, as I tell you, in his lordship’s night-
“ shirt.
“ I promise you that I thought myself happy
“ when I got inside the mansion—a solemn block,
“ with a grand manner of its own and Corinthian
“pillars in the dining-room. His lordship was
“ on the hearthrug, as solemn as his house, but
“with a pinched, precise look which it has not
“ got. He was no easy nut to crack, and it took
“ me a little time to establish myself with him,
“but the good James, his brother, left us a little
“ while alone, and I made all the way I could in
“ his favour. I may have trouble with the old
“ man, and, at any rate, must be always at my
“ best with him, for he seems to me to be silly,
“virtuous and cunning all at once. He is vain,
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