Tales of Flemish Life Author:Hendrik Conscience General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1854 Original Publisher: Constable Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can selec... more »t from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: BLIND ROSA. On a beautiful day in 1846, the Diligence rolled as usual over the highway between Antwerp and Turnhout. The tramp of horses, the rattle of wheels, the creaking of the frame, and the loud voice of the driver, accompanied its onward progress. The clogs barked in the distance as it passed, the birds rose startled from the fields, and the shadow of the old coach danced grotesquely among the trees and hedges. Suddenly the coachman pulled up not far from a lonely tavern. Springing from his seat, he opened the door of his vehicle, and without saying a word, proffered his hand to a traveller, who immediately leapt out upon the highway, carrying a leathern travelling-bag under his arm. With equal silence the coachman put up the steps, shut the door, and ascending the box, drew the whip gently across the horses' backs, as a sign to proceed ; and the clumsy machine rumbled on in its own spiritless and monotonous way. Meanwhile the traveller had entered the tavern, and calling for a glass of beer, sat down at a table. He was a man of very high stature, and appeared to be about fifty years ofage. One might have even supposed him to be sixty, had not his vigorous bearing, his lively eye, and the youthful smile upon his lips, shown that his heart and soul were much younger than his face would have indicated. His hair, indeed, was gray, his brow and cheeks furrowed, and his whole countenance expressed that waste of power which care and toil stamp on the face as the sign of premature old age. And yet one could see that his chest rose and fell with fulness and life, that his...« less