"
Whereupon she gave two or three heaves, which relieved Ralph greatly,
but involved her in an altercation with her neighbor on the other
side, which lasted till the towers of Canterbury came in sight. Here
they changed horses at the Fountain Inn.
"Look here, my boy," the woman said to Ralph. "If you feel underneath
my feet you will find a basket, and at the top there is an empty
bottle. There will be just time for you to jump down and get it filled
for me. A shilling's worth of brandy, and filled up with water. That
girl Eliza flustered me so much with her worritting and questions
before I started that I had not time to fill it."
Ralph jumped down and procured the desired refreshment, and was just
in time to clamber up to his seat again when the coach started. He
enjoyed the rapid motion and changing scene much, but he was not sorry
when--as evening was coming on--he saw ahead of him a dull mist, which
his fellow-passenger told him was the smoke of London.
It was nine in the evening when the coach drove into the courtyard of
the Bull Inn. The guard, who had received instructions from Mrs.
Conway, at once gave Ralph and his box into the charge of one of the
porters awaiting the arrival of the coach, and told him to take the
box to the inn from which the coach for Weymouth started in the
morning.
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