I could not be so ill-natured as to reject all the offers made me by this
benevolent, but uncouth _gentlewoman_, so accepted a sandwich, and thereby
giving her, as it were, a signal to commence operations. To work she
applied herself upon the contents of her wicker store-room, with such
hearty good-will, that I imagined myself secured from her volubility for
at least one hour. Alas! alas! her tongue and her teeth were, I verily
believe, running a race; and when the good dame discovered that to her
queries and remarks I deigned not a reply, she "just was _so_ glad there
was somebody in the coach to talk to, for 'twas the most _moanfullest_
thing in the wuld to go journeying on and on, for long, long miles,
without ever 'earing a body speak." I would not appear to understand my
persevering friend's insinuation, and was quickly lost in the charming
description of wild, woodland scenery, afforded by one of Sir Walter's
novels: here a slight bridge hung, as in air, between gigantic rocks, and
over a foaming cataract; there, a light column of bluish, curling smoke
told of the shepherd's shieling, situated, bosomed in trees, amid some
solitary pass of the mountains; here, the dark, melancholy pine reared its
mournful head, companioned by the sable fir, the larch, the service-tree,
and the wild cherry; there, the silvery willow laved its drooping branches
in the stormy flood; whilst, with the white foam of the joyous exulting
waters, all trees of beauty, majesty, and grace, rising from a
richly-verdant turfing, formed a delightful contrast. I heard the cry of
the soaring eaglet, as he rose from his eyry in the rock; wild, but
pleasant music was in the cool, strong wind, which flowed now roughly
around, and lashed me, like the sweeping sea-wave.

"Hey? Um 'fear'd you're a trifle ard of 'earing, arn't you? Why then put a
roasted _ingin_ when you go to bed into your _earn_, and I'll warrant
'twill cure you if you do 't _reglar_."