Georgiana instantly rose to defence of the mules, commenting that a teamster was not fit to drive any beast, if he could not do so quietly, safely, and gently—an opinion to which her brother readily assented: “We are very fortunate in Harmon; he is as careful of the horses as any man. He sees not only to their safe use, but to their health and care—their minds as well as their bodies. Woe betide any of his grooms who are seen being neglectful or otherwise cruel to the beasts. Harmon has brought along the under-coachman very admirably; he is somewhat young for such responsibility, but he is as gentle in his ways as Harmon, and drives the servants’ coach very admirably.”

“My Dear Mr. Darcy!” agreed Elizabeth, “just think of our sufferings had we been in the hands of the voiturins we have seen goading their horses along with an handful of frayed ropes, ceaseless epithets, and their merciless whips! I would never have consented to leave Calais in such a manner as do the French, hazarding their very life and limbs to such commotion. Not to mention,” she smiled, “the inelegance of their appearance. I am grateful to Mr. Harmon, certainly, but more indebted to you, dear Husband, for all of the diligence and care taken in planning our journey, and the wisdom of your arrangement of horses, carriages, coachmen, and, of course, travelling companions.”

The Darcys’ journey, excepting the incidents mentioned above, was tolerably pleasant until reaching Switzerland. There, they found post-horses in such scarce supply that they were compelled to hire draught horses taken straight from the fields from the Swiss voiturins at an exorbitant cost, and even at those prices, they were often obliged to wait hours for fresh horses to arrive. There was another change: the English and French post-boys rode only between adjacent post-houses, whilst the Swiss voiturins preferred to remain with their employers for any distance, and any number of days, requiring that the Darcys feed and house them with their other servants, an additional burthen of expense beyond the already extortionate fees. Mr. Harmon’s dissatisfaction with the voiturins had other points of confirmation, all of which he enumerated so continually, one listening might have assumed his own position to be in jeopardy from the foreign post-boys, an idea extremely unlikely to have entered the thoughts of his master.