It is very kind of the doctor to allow it. Will you see that his
things are all ready by Friday, when I shall take him up to town, and
send him down the next day by himself."
Mrs. Brown was prepared for the announcement, and merely suggested a
doubt whether Tom were yet old enough to travel by himself. However,
finding both father and son against her on this point, she gave in, like
a wise woman, and proceeded to prepare Tom's kit for his launch into a
public school.
CHAPTER IV--THE STAGE COACH.
"Let the steam-pot hiss till it's hot;
Give me the speed of the Tantivy trot."
Coaching Song, by R.E.E. Warburton, Esq.
"Now, sir, time to get up, if you please. Tally-ho coach for
Leicester'll be round in half an hour, and don't wait for nobody." So
spake the boots of the Peacock Inn Islington, at half-past two o'clock
on the morning of a day in the early part of November 183-, giving
Tom at the same time a shake by the shoulder, and then putting down a
candle; and carrying off his shoes to clean.
Tom and his father arrived in town from Berkshire the day before, and
finding, on inquiry, that the Birmingham coaches which ran from the city
did not pass through Rugby, but deposited their passengers at Dunchurch,
a village three miles distant on the main road, where said passengers
had to wait for the Oxford and Leicester coach in the evening, or to
take a post-chaise, had resolved that Tom should travel down by the
Tally-ho, which diverged from the main road and passed through Rugby
itself.
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