Charles and his friends were greatly
disappointed, but they were obliged to make the best of it, and stayed
at the inn all night. Early in the morning Charles was advised to leave,
as rumours were circulating in the village; and he and one or two others
rode away to Bridport, while Lord Wilton stayed at the inn, as his horse
required new shoes. He engaged the ostler at the inn to take his horse
to the smithy, where Hamnet the smith declared that "its shoes had been
set in three different counties, of which Worcestershire was one." The
ostler stayed at the inn gossiping about the company, hearing how they
had sat up with their horses saddled all the night, and so on, until,
suspecting the truth, he left the blacksmith to shoe the horse, and went
to see the parson, whom Charles describes as "one Westly," to tell him
what he thought. But the parson was at his morning prayers, and was so
"long-winded" that the ostler became tired of waiting, and fearing lest
he should miss his "tip" from Lord Wilton, hurried back to the smithy
without seeing the parson. After his lordship had departed, Hamnet the
smith went to see Mr. Westly--who by the way was an ancestor of John and
Charles Wesley--and told him the gossip detailed to him by the ostler.
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