To me she was strenuously civil in her uncouth way.

But I saw her give her husband one look, as he staggered in with my comparatively light portmanteau, which she instantly snatched out of his feeble arms.

I saw this look again before the evening was out, and it was such a one as Braithwaite himself had fixed upon his horse as he flogged it up the hills.
I began to wonder how the young squire had found it in his conscience to recommend such a pair.

I wondered less when the woman finally ushered me upstairs to my rooms.

These were small and rugged, but eminently snug and clean.