midday
We went round to a stable-yard , and I got into a four-wheeled chaise . His wife sat with him in front , and a biggish boy sat with me behind . When we came to a guide-post which pointed down his lane , I got out , and was dismissed in the dark with the observation -- uttered good-naturedly and jovially , but not very helpfully -- that he was `` afraid I should have a wettish walk . '' The walk certainly was wettish , and as I had had nothing to eat or drink since my midday meal , I was miserable and desponding . But just before I reached home the clouds rolled off with the south-west wind into detached , fleecy masses , separated by liquid blue gulfs , in which were sowed the stars , and the effect upon me was what that sight , thank God , always has been -- a sense of the infinite , extinguishing all mean cares . I expected to hear no more from my Unitarian acquaintances , and was therefore greatly surprised when , a week after my visit , I received an invitation to `` settle '' amongst them . The usual month 's trial was thought unnecessary , as I was not altogether a stranger to some of them .