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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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* W • With: Tliat Natural Clieerfulness ...
_niay be divided into three eras . The first of which consisted of animated and hihlintellectual discussion on men and tilings . The
second was mere g comments y on the road , and on our chances of bed and supper . During the third we trudged on in dead silence , with
now and then an assurance ( which neither believed in ) that " we must be soon there now . " It was long past eight , and the sunlight was
dying off the mountains , when we caught sight of the Boat-house . We let down our looped-up dresses , took our knapsacks in . our hands
instead of on our shoulders , and , with a hasty appeal to each other as to the respectability of bur appearance , presented ourselves at the inn ,
where we were met by — , an Ogress ; or such she appeared to our nervous and excited eyes . We quailed before her _searching and
"susp Wh icious glance moost , and have assented coom over with t humble fells . " alacrity to her remark , you
"y , Could we have beds ?" " Wellshe did not much like lady customers , but , however , yes ;
, we An mig attempt ht have at a remonstrance double-bedded was room cut . " short by a decisive assurance ,
that , whether she had others vacant or no , we must take that . 66 A sitting-room ?"
66 Well , she could not promise , ; there was a parlor we might go intoand if no gentlemen happened to Want it , we might stay there ,
but , we were to be sure to remember she did not promise . " All this in a broader dialect than I can attempt to convey .
We entered our parlor , where I curled myself up on the window seat , and A ., flinging down her knapsack , seized her painting
materials , told me to " order tea , " and rushed off to get a hasty sketch of an " effect of light . "
Order ! I order " this ogress to bring tea ! However , I meekly " _suggested " we should like itand whether her bark was more than
, her bite—I suspect it was—or whether my helpless and submissive demeanor disarmed her I know not , but it was in a much more
friendly manner , that looking at iny black satin slippers she hoped I had not been walking in " them . "
This evidence of human sympathy emboldened me so much , that I had the courage to decline bacon and eggs for tea , and to ask for
" anything else , " as we were tired of that article of food . When the tea-pot came , and I , with a timid wish to propitiate
her , put in a very small quantity , she insisted on my making it strongerand henceforth assumed a tone of rough protection , which
, was infinitely satisfactory to us . " Excessive fatigue , " gasped A ., leaning back in her chair after
the first pangs of hunger were satisfied , " excessive fatigue has the effect upon me , of quite stopping my power of utterance . "
" How very peculiar ! " said I , and very peculiar I think it , and all the more singularas I was the silent witness immediately
afterwards , of a very long , talk on tlie neighbourhood , the chances of
lodgings , our journey , Cumberland in general , and Ennerdale in
