The Wayfarers

by J. C. Snaith

"Shoes, and silk stockings too," says she with a childlike pleasure. "And what a dear laced coat, and what nice white ruffles! I am certain you make a far more perfect gentleman than you do an ostler, though to be sure you are greatly lacking a shave."

"It is ever so," says I. "The moment one goes up in the world one's responsibilities multiply. When I was an ostler my unrazored chin passed without comment; but the moment I improve my condition I must shave every morning, or else be more miserable than ever I was in my former station."

Mrs. Cynthia was too preoccupied with my appearance to chide me for long-winded truisms of this sort. I must not omit to state that during my absence she had supplied the deficiencies in her own attire by taking a smart three-cornered hat of Mr. Waring's which, though greatly too large for her, she had contrived artfully to adjust on the back of her head, and thereby gained a sweetly rakish appearance from it; and further supplied her lack of a cloak in a no less skilful fashion by draping one of the rugs about her in a way that simulated such an article.

We came to an inn with our pitiful tale. We had it all most wonderfully pat, having rehearsed it carefully, until we were able to pour it forth with an infinity of detail. If the distressed condition of the horses, and our own evident sincerity were not enough, there were the boxes all tumbled and ransacked to add weight to the evidence. Our imposition being so well received, and the attitude of the landlord seeming so friendly, we determined to run the risk of being overtaken, and break our journey here for an hour while we made a meal, and the horses were fed and rested. Whether it was that the landlord was a man of a most tender heart, or that our address was so truly excellent, I cannot say, but certainly the honest fellow did not hesitate to take us at our own valuation. If there was any small particular in which he could serve the earl and countess he should be more than happy. The small particular in which he was able to do so was by remitting the amount of our charges against a future occasion, and by lending us a guinea or two on no better security than the possession of our pleasant manners and a chaise and a pair of horses.

We went our way in much better heart. We were fortified indeed by such a generous confidence. And so susceptible is the mind to the opinion of others, that on the strength of the landlord's disposition, we began to hold up our heads again in the world, and to take a rose-coloured view of our affairs. All was not lost yet by a good deal. With our admirable equipage we had resources of a sort; and we were still in the complete possession of our freedom. It remained for us to utilize it to the full.

It was while we were engaged with this train of speculation that a concrete and definite idea came into my head. Why not make for the port of Bristol and flee the country? Why not indeed?

"A brave plan, truly," Cynthia says, "but we cannot do it without money."

"We will sell our horses and chariot to some honest vintner of Bristol city," says I, "and the proceeds should easily suffice to take us to the Americas."

Although Mrs. Cynthia shook her head and deprecated it as a wild-goose scheme, she was compelled to admit that it was the best that offered. Her protests were not unmingled with regret, for she could not be got to consider it so light a thing to renounce her country. For my part I must confess that I was troubled with no such scruples. Like all persons who serve it scurvily, and who are least of an ornament to it, I held myself to be as ill-used by it as ever it had been by me. I felt that I could renounce it for ever without a pang.

After some little meditation I became immeasurably taken with this scheme. There was no reason why with one bold stroke we should not renounce our liabilities and put away our dangers. Every hour we spent in England now was at our peril. But let us reach the port of Bristol and turn our chaise and horses into ready money sufficient to defray the expenses of the voyage, and once again should we be able to breathe the air of freedom. Seeing me more than ever possessed with the notion, Mrs. Cynthia, like a dutiful wife, began presently to yield to it. She owned at least that a life over seas could not be much more precarious than the one we were at present enjoying, and it might conceivably be less so.