Wych Hazel | Page 8

to the tiresomeness of the way. It was a long morning. Dusty and
weary, the coach- load was set down at last at another country inn; by
the side of a little river which had well filled its banks. The travellers
were not, it must be noted, upon any of the great highways of passage,
but had taken a cut across country, over some of the spurs of the
Catskill; where a railroad was not. Mr. Falkirk brought his charge into
the 'Ladies' parlour,' and spoke in a tone of irritated business.
'This is Hadyn's Dam. You can have rest and dinner now.'
CHAPTER IV.
FELLOW TRAVELLERS.
'Dinner--and the rest of it,' translated Miss Hazel. 'Will it be needful to
make a grand toilette, sir? or shall I go to the table as I am? If one may
judge of the selectness of the company by their conversation'--

'You'll see no more of the company,' said Mr. Falkirk; 'they are going
another way, and we have to wait here. The bridge will be repaired
to-morrow, I suppose.'
'Yes, sir. We don't dine upon the bridge, I presume?'
Mr. Falkirk went off, making sure that the door latched behind him. In
a quarter of an hour he came back, with an attendant bearing a tray.
'At present fortune gives us nothing more remarkable than fried ham,'
he said,--'and that not of the most eatable, I fear. She is a jade. But we'll
get away to-morrow. I hope so.'
'My dear sir,' said Wych Hazel with a radiant face, 'we will get away
to-night. I find that the bridge is not on our road, after all. So I said it
was not worth while to get a room ready for me,--and the baggage
might be just transferred.'
'To what?'
'To the other stage, sir. Or indeed I believe it is some sort of a baggage
wagon--as the roads are heavy--not to speak of the passengers. It has
gone on up the mountain.'
'What has?' exclaimed Mr. Falkirk, whose face was a study.
'The wagon,' said Miss Hazel, seating herself by the table. 'More
particularly, your one trunk and my six, sir.'
'Where has it gone?'
'Up the mountain, sir. They were afraid of making the stage top
heavy--the weight of intellect inside being small.'
'Do you mean, to Catskill?'
'Yes, sir. Poor little puss!--Does the vegetation hereabouts support
nothing but pigs?' said Miss Hazel, with a despairing glance from the
dish of ham to a yellow haired lassie in a blue gown, who just then

brought in a pitcher of water. Mr. Falkirk waited till the damsel had
withdrawn, and went to the window and came back again before he
spoke.
'You should have consulted me, Miss Hazel. You are bewildered. It is
not a good time to go up the mountain now.'
'Bewildered? I!' was Miss Hazel's only answer.
'Yes, you don't know what is good for you. I shall send for those trunks,
Wych.'
'Quite useless, sir. There is nothing else going up to the Mountain
House till we go ourselves. We will go for them--there is nothing like
doing your own business.'
'You will find that out one day,' muttered her guardian.
'Seeking my fortune, and wait for the mending of a bridge!' Hazel went
on. 'And then I said I was going to Catskill,--and then you're the best
guardian in the world, Mr. Falkirk, so it's no use looking as if you were
somebody else.'
'I shall be somebody else directly,' said Mr. Falkirk in a cynical manner.
'But eat your dinner, Miss Hazel; you will not have much time.'
A meal for which he did not seem to care himself, for there was no
perceivable time when he took it.
The stage coach into which the party presently stowed themselves, held
now but those four--Mr. Falkirk and his ward, and two gentlemen who
had declared themselves on the way to the mountain. The former
established themselves somewhat taciturnly in the several corners of
the back seat, and so made the journey; that is to say, as much as
possible, for Mr. Falkirk being known to the other could not avoid now
and then being drawn into communication with them. One, indeed, Mr.
Kingsland, made many and divers overtures to that effect. His elegance
of person and costume was advantageously displayed in an opposite

corner, from whence he distributed civilities as occasion offered. His
book and his magazine were placed at the brown veil's disposal; he
stopped the coach to buy cherries from a wayside farm, which cherries
were in like manner laid at Wych Hazel's feet; and his observations on
the topics that were available, demonstrated all his stores of wit and
wisdom equally at hand and ready for use. But brown veil would none
of them all. The daintiest