Page:Alice Lauder.pdf/184

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
176
ALICE LAUDER.

Just at that moment a rattling of wheels, a barking of dogs, and a general bustle and commotion all over the village, announced the arrival of the mail-coach, whose weekly visit was the one excitement of life in the little community. Alice leaned out of the window and glanced at the passengers who were alighting at the hotel door, looking very dusty and discouraged after their journey. Most of them were evidently passengers by the incoming mail from England, who had preferred the rough journey over the hills to the tender mercies of a coasting steamer.

Suddenly she uttered an exclamation of surprise, “It can’t be! Yes, it is! No, it isn’t! Yes, it really is the professor!”

Clare, after requesting to be immediately informed whether her friend had suddenly gone mad, and receiving no answer, at last deigned to approach the window, and squeeze herself into the remaining space, whence a view could be obtained of the arrivals.

“For goodness sake, Alice, restrain yourself,” she murmured, craning her neck as far as possible round the corner. “Is that him?” she added, regardless of grammar, and gazing at a broad, short, middle-aged back, clothed in dustcoloured tweed, surmounted by a sun-helmet and

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.