Breakfast at the Inn
The group stops to eat breakfast. Mrs. Snapper and Miss Snapper withdraw to a private room to eat alone, while the severe gentlewoman chooses to eat with the soldier in a separate private room, leaving the narrator and the lawyer to eat together. The narrator is annoyed by Mrs. Snapper’s cold, distant behavior toward him, while the lawyer complains he has never seen stagecoach etiquette broken so badly before. During the meal, the lawyer teases the narrator about the severe gentlewoman’s attachment to the cowardly soldier, joking that she must admire his legal skill and want him to make a property settlement for her. After paying their bill, the narrator and lawyer bribe the coach driver to rush the rest of the group out of their meal, and when Mrs. Snapper and Miss Snapper arrive at the coach, the two men deliberately refuse to help them board as payback for their rudeness.
The Lawyer’s Wit on the Officer
The soldier arrives at the coach moments later, furious about being interrupted during breakfast, followed by the severe gentlewoman, who is also disheveled and upset. After the soldier helps her board, he complains about the coachman’s rudeness, and the lawyer teases him by joking that he may have missed a legal opportunity to “join issue” at the next stage. The severe gentlewoman is offended by the lawyer’s suggestive comment, says she would have him punished for obscenity if she were a man, and thanks God she has never been in such coarse company before. The soldier, feeling obligated to defend the woman’s honor, threatens to cut off the lawyer’s ears if he makes any more improper remarks. The lawyer apologizes, and silence falls over the rest of the coach ride.
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