With a change of linen from my bag, which had fortunately kept its
contents dry, the yellow trousers, and a wonderful dressing-gown, made
of some blue stuff embroidered with gold and lined throughout with
crimson satin, I made a truly gorgeous appearance. But it struck me
that it would be rather startling to a beholder were I to appear
barefooted in such raiment, for my shoes and stockings were as wet as
the rest of my clothes. I had not finished dressing before the little
man knocked again, this time with some gray socks and a pair of
embroidered slippers.
"These'll fit you, I think," said he, "for I'll lay you ten shillings
that I'm as big in the feet as you are."
I would have been glad to gaze at myself in a full-length mirror, but
there was no opportunity for the indulgence of such vanity; and before
leaving the room I sat down for a moment to give a few thoughts to
the situation. My mind first reverted to the soaked condition of my
garments and the difficulty of getting them dry enough for me to put
them on and continue my journey. Then I found that I had dropped the
subject and was thinking of the slender girl, wondering if she had
really hurt herself very much, congratulating myself that I had been
fortunate enough to be on hand to help her in her need, and
considering what a plight she would have been in if she had been
caught in that terrible rain and utterly unable to get herself to
shelter.
Suddenly I stopped short in my thinking, and going to my bag I took
from it the little box of quinine capsules which had been given to me
by the doctor's daughter, and promptly proceeded to swallow one of
them.
"It may be of service to me," I said to myself.
When I made my appearance in the hallway I met the little man, who
immediately burst into a roar of laughter.
"Lord, sir!" said he. "You must excuse me, but you look like a king on
a lark! Walk into the parlor, sir, and sit down and make yourself
comfortable. She's hurrying up supper to give you something warm after
your wettin'. Would you like a little nip of whiskey, sir, to keep
the damp out?"
I declined the whiskey, and seated myself in the neatly-furnished
parlor. It was wonderful, I thought, to fall into such a hospitable
household, and then I began to ask myself whether or not it would be
the proper thing to offer to pay for my entertainment. I thought I had
quite properly divined the position in life of the little man. This
small house, so handsomely built and neatly kept, must be a lodge upon
some fine country place, and the man was probably the head gardener,
or something of the kind.