Her
gaieties and friendliness were not reassuring, and in my mind presaged
approaching mischief and treachery. The days were shortening to the wintry
span. The edge of the red sun had already touched the horizon as Madame and
I, overtaken at the warren by his last beams, were hastening homeward.
A narrow carriage-road traverses this wild region of the park, to which a
distant gate gives entrance. On descending into this unfrequented road, I
was surprised to see a carriage standing there. A thin, sly postilion,
with that pert, turned-up nose which the old caricaturist Woodward used to
attribute to the gentlemen of Tewkesbury, was leaning on his horses, and
looked hard at me as I passed. A lady who sat within looked out, with an
extra-fashionable bonnet on, and also treated us to a stare. Very pink and
white cheeks she had, very black glossy hair and bright eyes--fat, bold,
and rather cross, she looked--and in her bold way she examined us curiously
as we passed.
I mistook the situation. It had once happened before that an intending
visitor at Knowl had entered the place by that park-road, and lost several
hours in a vain search for the house.
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