confirmations of my inclining, and many remarks from one bystander to
another, that the gentleman could go for'ard by the mail to-morrow,
whereas to-night he would only be froze, and where was the good of a
gentleman being froze--ah, let alone buried alive (which latter clause
was added by a humorous helper as a joke at my expense, and was extremely
well received), I saw my portmanteau got out stiff, like a frozen body;
did the handsome thing by the guard and coachman; wished them good-night
and a prosperous journey; and, a little ashamed of myself, after all, for
leaving them to fight it out alone, followed the landlord, landlady, and
waiter of the Holly-Tree up-stairs.

I thought I had never seen such a large room as that into which they
showed me. It had five windows, with dark red curtains that would have
absorbed the light of a general illumination; and there were
complications of drapery at the top of the curtains, that went wandering
about the wall in a most extraordinary manner. I asked for a smaller
room, and they told me there was no smaller room.

They could screen me in, however, the landlord said. They brought a
great old japanned screen, with natives (Japanese, I suppose) engaged in
a variety of idiotic pursuits all over it; and left me roasting whole
before an immense fire.

My bedroom was some quarter of a mile off, up a great staircase at the
end of a long gallery; and nobody knows what a misery this is to a
bashful man who would rather not meet people on the stairs. It was the
grimmest room I have ever had the nightmare in; and all the furniture,
from the four posts of the bed to the two old silver candle-sticks, was
tall, high-shouldered, and spindle-waisted. Below, in my sitting-room,
if I looked round my screen, the wind rushed at me like a mad bull; if I