ergo sentence, and resume his position in
the life of the country-side. Married men caused him no disquietude
whatever; he had them fast by the foot. Sooner or later they would come
back to see their wives, a peeping neighbour would pass the word, and my
portly constable would walk quietly over and take the bird sitting. And
if there were a few who had no particular ties in the neighbourhood, and
preferred to shift into another county when they fell into trouble,
their departure moved the placid constable in no degree. He was of
Dogberry's opinion; and if a man would not stand in the Prince's name,
he took no note of him, but let him go, and thanked God he was rid of a
knave. And surely the crime and the law were in admirable keeping:
rustic constable was well met with rustic offender. The officer sitting
at home over a bit of fire until the criminal came to visit him, and the
criminal coming--it was a fair match. One felt as if this must have been
the order in that delightful seaboard Bohemia where Florizel and Perdita
courted in such sweet accents, and the Puritan sang psalms to hornpipes,
and the four-and-twenty shearers danced with nosegays in their bosoms,
and chanted their three songs apiece at the old shepherd's festival; and
one could not help picturing to oneself what havoc among good people's
purses, and tribulation for benignant constable, might be worked here by
the arrival, over stile and footpath, of a new Autolycus.

Bidding good-morning to my fellow-traveller, I left the road and struck
across country. It was rather a revelation to pass from between the
hedgerows and find quite a bustle on the other side, a great coming and
going of school-children upon by-paths, and, in every second field,
lusty horses and stout country-folk a-ploughing. The way I followed took
me through many fields thus occupied, and through many strips of
plantation, and then over a little space of smooth turf, very pleasant
to the feet, set with tall fir-trees and clamorous with rooks making
ready for the winter, and so back again into the quiet road. I was now
not far from the end of my day's journey. A few hundred yards farther,
and, passing through a gap in the hedge, I began to go down hill through
a pretty extensive tract of young beeches. I was soon in shadow myself,
but the afternoon sun still coloured the upmost boughs of the wood, and
made a fire over my head in the autumnal foliage. A little faint vapour
lay among the slim