According to our English acceptation of the term, my baggage was literally a large portmanteau; but the passengers within gave me to understand that Monsieur le Conducteur was perfectly right, and that I had better try to conciliate him instead of insisting. I took their advice, and my _malle_ became a portmanteau, under which title alone it was admissible on the diligence, according to the laws and ordinances of La Cour des Messageries. I got inside, William mounted the cabriolet, and I bade adieu to St Denis--at all events for two months. I was agreeably surprised at finding the diligence such a comfortable conveyance; well padded and well hung, we rolled along most agreeably, though only at the rate of six miles per hour. My companions inside were--an elderly lady, very taciturn but very amiable; a young one about five-and-twenty, handsome, lively, chatty, and very shrewd--she talked for both; a good, honest, little man, who kept some sort of magazine in Paris; a young lad, clerk in some counting-house; and an officer of our own Rifles. We had not reached Pierrefitte ere Mademoiselle had managed to introduce us all to each other in such a manner that formality was banished, and we were the best friends possible--laughing, joking, quizzing each other or the _paysans_; nothing could be happier. At Luzarches, a capital breakfast, and as much time as we pleased to take it in--M. le Conducteur all suavity and amiability. Our lively little friend kept up such an animated conversation that I saw only just enough of the country we were passing through to remark that it became much prettier and more picturesque as we approached Clermont, where the diligence stopped for dinner. M. le Conducteur took the head of the table, and our party was increased by a _soi-disant_, or _soi-pensant_, humorist of the _gendarmerie_, who, seating himself _sans cérémonie_, fell to, tooth and nail, as if he had not touched food for a week. This, however, did not much interrupt the display of wit, which principally was aimed at the cookery and dishes served up. A fricassee of rabbit he vowed he would on no account touch unless Madame produced _les pattes_, since, as he solemnly assured us, they frequently served fricasseed cats instead. Madame did not, however, produce _les pattes_, and although none of us touched it, the dish in a few minutes was cleared of its contents. This fellow reminded me strongly of the parasite in Gil Blas, and, his adulations being entirely addressed to our little vain conducteur, I set him down as the “Antorcha de la Filosofia!”--maybe our hero always dined with the passengers _par ordre et pour l’espionage_. Here, as at Luzarches, no _empressement_ was betrayed: the diligence stood passively at the door without horse, without even an hostler visible; the ladies retired to a _chambre_; so the Rifleman and I agreed to walk on, which resolve we communicated to M. le Conducteur, who assented, and off we set. At the end of the town two roads