ood road?'

'No, 'tain't.' Having uttered this brief reply, and apparently satisfied
himself with another scrutiny, the red-headed man resumed his work. 'We
want to put this horse up here,' said Mr. Pickwick; 'I suppose we
can, can't we?' 'Want to put that ere horse up, do ee?' repeated the
red-headed man, leaning on his spade.

'Of course,' replied Mr. Pickwick, who had by this time advanced, horse
in hand, to the garden rails.

'Missus'--roared the man with the red head, emerging from the garden,
and looking very hard at the horse--'missus!'

A tall, bony woman--straight all the way down--in a coarse, blue
pelisse, with the waist an inch or two below her arm-pits, responded to
the call.

'Can we put this horse up here, my good woman?' said Mr. Tupman,
advancing, and speaking in his most seductive tones. The woman looked
very hard at the whole party; and the red-headed man whispered something
in her ear.

'No,' replied the woman, after a little consideration, 'I'm afeerd on
it.'

'Afraid!' exclaimed Mr. Pickwick, 'what's the woman afraid of?'

'It got us in trouble last time,' said the woman, turning into the
house; 'I woan't have nothin' to say to 'un.'

'Most extraordinary thing I have ever met with in my life,' said the
astonished Mr. Pickwick.

'I--I--really believe,' whispered Mr. Winkle, as his friends gathered
round him, 'that they think we have come by this horse in some dishonest
manner.'

'What!' exclaimed Mr. Pickwick, in a storm of indignation. Mr. Winkle
modestly repeated his suggestion.

'Hollo, you fellow,' said the angry Mr. Pickwick,'do you think we stole
the horse?'

'I'm sure ye did,' replied the red-headed man, with a grin which
agitated his countenance from one auricular organ to the other. Saying
which he turned into the house and banged the door after him.

'It's like a dream,' ejaculated Mr. Pickwick, 'a hideous dream. The idea
of a man's walking about all day with a dreadful horse that he can't get
rid of!' The depressed Pickwickians turned moodily away, with the
tall quadruped, for which they all felt the most unmitigated disgust,
following slowly at their heels.

It was late in the afternoon when the four friends and their four-footed
companion turned into the lane leading to Manor Farm; and even when
they were so near their place of destination, the pleasure they would
otherwise have experienced was materially damped as they reflected
on the singularity of their appearan