"and, just on that particular part of Snow Hill where omnibus horses going eastward seriously think of falling down on purpose, and where horses in hackney cabriolets going westward not unfrequently fall by accident, is the coach-yard of the Saracen's Head inn; its portal guarded by two Saracens' heads and shoulders--there they are, frowning upon you from each side of the gateway. The inn itself, garnished with another Saracen's Head, frowns upon you from the top of the yard; while from the door of the hind boot of all the red coaches that are standing therein there glares a small Saracen's Head, with a twin expression to the large Saracen's Head below, so that the general appearance of the pile is decidedly of the Saracenic order. [Illustration: THE SARACEN'S HEAD, SNOW HILL _From an old Print_] "When you walk up this yard, you will see the booking-office on your left, and the tower of St. Sepulchre's Church, darting abruptly up into the sky, on your right, and a gallery of bedrooms on both sides. Just before you, you will observe a long window with the words 'coffee-room' legibly painted above it; and, looking out of the window, you would have seen in addition, if you had gone at the right time, Mr. Wackford Squeers with his hands in his pockets." Here, Mr. Squeers was standing "in a box by one of the coffee-room fire-places, fitted with one such table as is usually seen in coffee-rooms, and two of extraordinary shapes and dimensions made to suit the angles of the partition," waiting for fond parents and guardians to bring their little boys for his treatment. At the moment he had only secured one, but presently two more were added to the list, and, during the bargaining with their stepfather, Ralph Nickleby and his nephew arrived on the scene. The incident of Nicholas's engagement for the post will be recalled by all and need not be repeated here. As the uncle and nephew emerged from the Saracen's Head gateway, Ralph promised Nicholas he would return in the morning to see him "fairly off" by the coach. Nicholas kept his appointment by arriving at the Saracen's Head in good time, and went in search of Mr. Squeers in the coffee-room, where he discovered him breakfasting with three little boys. The sound of the coach horn quickly brought the frugal repast to an end, and "the little boys had to be got up to the top of the coach and their boxes had to be brought out and put in." All was animation in the coach-yard when Nicholas's mother and sister and his uncle arrived to bid him good-bye. "A minute's bustle, a banging of the coach doors, a swaying of the vehicle to one side, as the heavy coachman, and still heavier guard, climbed into their seats; a cry of all right, a few notes from the horn, a hasty glance of two sorrowful faces below and the hard features of Mr. Ralph Nickleby--and the coach was gone too, and rattling over the stones of Smithfield."