I tried again by other questions to carry the conversation a little farther, but his replies invariably brought me back to the point, from which we had started. I was thus more and more confirmed in my opinion that I had before me a man of no common order.
The driver now returned to his horses with a speed beyond all expectation, but though under ordinary circumstances such an event might be almost deemed a peculiar dispensation of providence, yet, situated as I was, it seemed a most unlucky accident. I could not abandon the stranger, without first learning whether any thing could or could not be done to better his condition; yet to offer him such assistance at once, without previous occasion leading to it, was hardly likely to be successful. I saw, therefore, no better remedy for the present than to go on another stage with the diligence, a resolution, which was no sooner adopted than I found occasion to repent it. The face of the stranger, as I took my place by him, expressed the darkest suspicion, and his replies to my questions were briefer and drier than before.
