Page:Passages from the Life of a Philosopher.djvu/327

Rh, we had directed the postilions to drive slowly across the bridge, then about a third of a mile distant from us.

We were singularly favoured by circumstances. We saw the carriage which had just left us apparently crossing the bridge, then penetrating into the clouds, and finally becoming entirely lost to our view. At the same time the dissolving mist in our own immediate neighbourhood began to allow us to perceive the depth of the valley beneath, and at last even the little wandering brook, which looked like a thread of silver at its bottom.

The sun now burst out from behind a range of clouds, which had obscured it. Its warm rays speedily dissipated the mist, illuminated the dark gulf at our own side, and discovered to us the mail on terra firma on the opposite side of the chasm waiting to convey us to our destination.

On our arrival at Annecy, my thoughtful companion informed me that the mail would wait five-and-forty minutes. He suggested, as I was not in good health, that I should immediately on my arrival get into bed, whilst he would order tea, or supper, or any refreshment I might prefer, and that he would be answerable for calling me at the proper time to enable me to get comfortably whatever I might require, and be ready to start again with the mail.

I have frequently attempted to assign in my own mind the reasons of the singularly favourable reception I met with from the King of Sardinia. The reputation arising from the Analytical Engine could scarcely have produced that effect. The position of a sovereign is a very exceptional one. He is surrounded by persons each of whom has always one or more objects to gain. It is scarcely within the limits of possibility