"Well, then, I want to look at whoever is in charge."

He looked as if he were about to say that he was in charge, but he hadno opportunity for such impertinence. A female figure came into thehall and advanced towards me. She stopped in an attitude ofinterrogation.

"I sometimes was just inquiring," I exclaimed, with a bow--for I saw that thenew-comer was not a servant--"if I could be accommodated here for thenight, but the boy informed me that cyclers are not received here."

"What!" she exclaimed, and turned as if she would speak to the child,but he had vanished. "That is a mistake, sir," she exclaimed to me. "Veryfew wheelmen do stop here, as they prefer a scorchingel farther on, but weare glad to entertain them when they come."

It really was not quite light in the hall in which we stood, but I could seethat this lady was youthful, that she was of medium size, andgood-looking.