'Are there any passengers coming in here ?' said I, as the waiter came forward with my petit verre.

'I should think not, sir,' said the fellow with a leer.
'Then I shall have the whole coupe to myself ?' said I.

'Monsieur need have no fear of being disturbed; I can safely assure him that he will have no one there for the next twenty-four hours.' This was really pleasant intelligence; so I chucked him a ten sous piece, and closing up the window as the morning was cold, once more lay back to sleep with a success that has never failed me.

It was to a bright blue cloudless sky, and the sharp clear air of a fine day in winter, that I at length opened my eyes.

I pulled out my watch, and discovered it was exactly two o'clock; I next lowered the glass and looked about me, and very much to my surprise discovered that the diligence was not moving, but standing very peaceably in a very crowded congregation of other similar and dissimilar conveyances, all of which seemed, I thought, to labour under some physical ailment, some wanting a box, others a body, &c., &c.