'You had better, by all means,' chimed in the Scotchman.
I hesitated a moment. What would Mrs. Grundy say—and my husband? I was too tired to care for the former, and the latter, I knew, would be only grateful to my compassionate friends.
'Circumstances must dispense with ceremony,' I observed, suiting the action to the word.
'Madam,' rejoined the Englishman, with warmth, 'I hope you will find, before you get to the end of your journey, that you are in honorable company.'
'I have found it out already,' I murmured, and then, committing myself to the care and keeping of the Good Father, my last shadow of distrust vanished.
I was too weary to hold my eyelids open, and too much excited to sleep. At length I was aroused by a sudden stop. The 'whippletree' had broken. In a few minutes we proceeded, the 'leader' being still driven loosely, as before.
Again we came to a pause—this time to water the horses at a wayside spring. While the others were refreshing themselves, the 'leader' quietly walked off, to the great indignation of the driver, who began to swear as he chased him through the snow. He was captured at last, and we continued on our way.
The poor Frenchman had by this time become so chilled that he was glad to come inside, though by so doing he felt obliged to give up the luxury of his pipe.
All at once the striking difference in our nationalities occurred to me, and I exclaimed, on the impulse of the moment:
'See, do we not represent the four leading nations of the earth—England, France, Scotland, and America?'