JOHN LEXLEY'S TROUBLES.

CHAPTER I.

"Good Hubert, Hubert, Hubert, throw thine eye
On yon young boy: I'll tell thee what, my friend,
He is a very serpent in my way;

And wheresoe'er this foot of mine doth tread,
He lies before me-

King John.

THERE was only one inn at Lackington in those days, the Unicorn. Naturally, therefore, the coach stopped there. Evidently the "High-flyer" was accustomed to a cordial reception by the landlord. Had he been a duke, and the hostelry a castle, the greeting could not have been more ostentatious. A small retinue of stable-men lined. either side of the big porch, over which the fabulous animal that gave title to the house was painted in brilliant pigments. There were two maids in the rear of the front passage-neat of hair, clean-handed, and saucy. The landlord stood at the door, portly and important.

VOL. I.

B

By his side was planted the rubicund landlady; and by her side, or rather looking over her left shoulder, their sole offspring, a daughter about eighteen, and pretty. She had light blue, mischievous eyes, and permanent dimples in both cheeks and chin. Twenty years hence she would be the fac-simile of her mother, for already she was chubby and fat.

"Sharp, Ben, with them buckets!" The coach was issuing from the big chestnut that leaned over the garth-fence, and touched the roof of the smithy on the other side of the road.

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For fifteen years, at least, the landlord had said Sharp, Ben, with them buckets!" exactly as the High-flyer" had passed this little avenue. For fifteen years Ben could remember that he and the buckets had been there, and "ready, ay, ready."

It was a bright, wholesome afternoon, somewhat late in the autumn, but the sun was all aglow upon the panes of the scullery, and the chestnut seemed on fire. A mere ripple of cool air, as it curled the leaves, appeared but to be fanning the golden flame. The hillside, too, behind, had a deep purple hue. It was a nice day to be travelling on the old coach-road; it was a pleasant spot to be put down at.

The travellers evidently thought so, for they got down smartly, and did not shake themselves as if they had been chilled, nor stretch their limbs as if