Surely he had heard the noise of wheels splashing through the pools of the highway.

The coach was coming! and with it--what?
His room was in the gable end facing the road.

From it he could look directly down on the porch of entrance, a fact which he had thankfully noted at his first look.

As he heard the bustle which now broke out below, and caught the gleam of a lantern coming round the corner of the house, he softly stepped to his lamp and put it out, then took his stand at the window.

The coach was now very near; he could hear the straining of the harness and the shouts of the driver.