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dispelled by the continued liveliness of her manner.
About mid-day, after quitting Hampton, our carriage broke down: the shock
caused Idris to faint, but on her reviving no other ill consequence ensued;
our party of attendants had as usual gone on before us, and our coachman
went in search of another vehicle, our former one being rendered by this
accident unfit for service. The only place near us was a poor village, in
which he found a kind of caravan, able to hold four people, but it was
clumsy and ill hung; besides this he found a very excellent cabriolet: our
plan was soon arranged; I would drive Idris in the latter; while the
children were conveyed by the servant in the former. But these arrangements
cost time; we had agreed to proceed that night to Windsor, and thither our
purveyors had gone: we should find considerable difficulty in getting
accommodation, before we reached this place; after all, the distance was
only ten miles; my horse was a good one; I would go forward at a good pace
with Idris, leaving the children to follow at a rate more consonant to the
uses of their cumberous machine.
Evening closed in quickly, far more quickly than I was prepared to expect.
At the going down of the sun it began to snow heavily. I attempted in vain
to defend my beloved companion from the storm; the wind drove the snow in
our faces; and it lay so high on the ground, that we made but small way;
while the night was so dark, that but for the white covering on the ground
we should not have been able to see a yard before us. We had left our
accompanying caravan far behind us; and now I perceived that the storm had
made me unconsciously deviate from my intended route. I had gone some miles
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