The fact was, we had driven at a pace accommodated rather to the convenience of the horses than to our impatience49; and finding, at the quaint50 little inn where we now halted, that we must wait for a nail or two in a loose shoe of one of our relay, we consulted, and being both hungry, agreed to beguile51 the time with an early dinner, which we enjoyed very sociably52 in a queer little parlour with a bow window, and commanding, with a little garden for foreground, a very pretty landscape.

 

Good Mary Quince, like myself, had quite dried her tears by this time, and we were both highly interested, and I a little nervous, too, about our arrival and reception at Bartram. Some time, of course, was lost in this pleasant little parlour, before we found ourselves once more pursuing our way.

 

The slowest part of our journey was the pull up the long mountain road, ascending53 zig-zag, as sailors make way against a head-wind, by tacking54. I forget the name of the pretty little group of houses — it did not amount to a village — buried in trees, where we got our four horses and two postilions, for the work was severe. I can only designate it as the place where Mary Quince and I had our tea, very comfortably, and bought some gingerbread, very curious to look upon, but quite uneatable.

 

The greater portion of the ascent55, when we were fairly upon the mountain, was accomplished at a walk, and at some particularly steep points we had to get out and go on foot. But this to me was quite delightful56. I had never scaled a mountain before, and the ferns and heath, the pure boisterous57 air, and above all the magnificent view of the rich country we were leaving behind, now gorgeous and misty58 in sunset tints, stretching in gentle undulations far beneath us, quite enchanted59 me.

 

We had just reached the summit when the sun went down. The low grounds at the other side were already lying in cold grey shadow, and I got the man who sat behind to point out as well as he could the site of Bartram–Haugh. But mist was gathering60 over all by this time. The filmy disk of the moon which was to light us on, so soon as twilight61 faded into night, hung high in the air. I tried to see the sable62 mass of wood which he described. But it was vain, and to acquire a clear idea of the place, as of its master, I must only wait that nearer view which an hour or two more would afford me.