“‘It may be,’ said I. ‘What of her, then?’
“‘Oh, sir, she’s gone these three days.’
“‘Gone!’ said I, with a groan.
“‘Yes, sir; she left this early on Tuesday with the same old gentleman and the old woman in a chaise-and-four. They ordered horses at Dolgelly to meet them; but I don’t know which road they took afterwards.’
“I fell back on my chair unable to speak. Here was I enacting Romeo for three mortal days to a mere company of Welsh waiters and chamber-maids, sighing, serenading, reciting, attitudinizing, rose-plucking, soliloquizing, half-suiciding, and all for the edification of a set of savages, with about as much civilization as their own goats.
“‘The bill,’ cried I, in a voice of thunder; ‘my bill this instant.’
“I had been imposed upon shamefully, grossly imposed upon, and would not remain another hour in the house. Such were my feelings at least, and so thinking, I sent for my servant, abused him for not having my clothes ready packed. He replied; I reiterated, and as my temper mounted, vented every imaginable epithet upon his head, and concluded by paying him his wages and sending him about his business. In one hour more I was upon the road.
“‘What road, sir,’ said the postilion, as he mounted into the saddle.
“‘To the devil, if you please,’ said I, throwing myself back in the carriage.
“‘Very well, sir,’ replied the boy, putting spurs to his horse.