The drivers kept the horses in a strong
trot, at times a vigorous gallop, and I judged that we were making nearly
three leagues an hour. At that rate it would require perhaps two hours to
reach the shrine mentioned by Lilly.
We had instructed the men on the box to watch for a sharp bend in the
road just before crossing a bourne, and we, too, began to watch soon
after leaving Westminster. After what seemed to be a long time, George
asked me to make a flare in my tinder box, while he caught a glimpse
of the face of his watch. This I did under the rug, and, much to our
disgust, we found that we had been less than twenty minutes on the road,
so provokingly had time lagged.
After our disappointment we lay back in the coach, determined to ignore
time, and thereby perhaps hasten it. In truth, time's lagging was not
unpleasant for me, in one respect, at least, for Bettina was by my side.
I found delight in keeping her well tucked about with rugs, so that not
even a breath of the storm nor a flake of snow could reach her. She wore
a great fur hood which buttoned under her chin, almost covering her face
and falling in a soft warm curtain to her shoulders and bosom. She was
warm, and aside from our great cause of anxiety, I believe, was happy.
I wished a hundred times that George were in another coach, though had
he been, I well knew that I should have said a great deal to Betty which
on the morrow would have been regretted, both for her sake and my own.
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