I had read such attractive descriptions of it, and I had but a five minutes' stop there, and that between two and three o'clock in the morning! Instead of a town resplendent in the rays of the sun, I could only obtain a view of a vague mass confusedly discoverable in the pale beams of the moon! Having ended my careful examination of the time-table, I began to examine my traveling companions.

There were four of us, and I need scarcely say that we occupied the four corners of the compartment.

I had taken the farthest corner facing the engine.

At the two opposite angles two travelers were seated facing each other.

As soon as they got in they had pulled their caps down on their eyes and wrapped themselves up in their cloaks--evidently they were Georgians as far as I could see.