which this courtesy was returned was frank, distinct, and peculiarly
harmonious.

"Good evening, my friend. How far is it to W----? I hope I am not out of
the direct road?"

"To W----, sir?" said the man, touching his hat, as he perceived,
in spite of the dusk, something in the air and voice of his new
acquaintance which called for a greater degree of respect than he was
at first disposed to accord to a pedestrian traveller,--"to W----, sir?
why, you will not surely go there to-night? it is more than eight miles
distant, and the roads none of the best."

"Now, a curse on all rogues!" quoth the youth, with a serious sort of
vivacity. "Why, the miller at the foot of the hill assured me I should
be at my journey's end in less than an hour."

"He may have said right, sir," returned the man, "yet you will not reach
W---- in twice that time."

"How do you mean?" said the younger stranger.

"Why, that you may for once force a miller to speak truth in spite of
himself, and make a public-house, about three miles hence, the end of
your day's journey."

"Thank you for the hint," said the youth. "Does the house you speak of
lie on the road-side?"

"No, sir: the lane branches off about two miles hence, and you must then
turn to the right; but till then our way is the same, and if you would
not prefer your own company to mine we can trudge on together."

"With all my heart," rejoined the younger stranger; "and not the less
willingly from the brisk pace you walk. I thought I had few equals
in pedestrianism; but it should not be for a small wager that I would
undertake to keep up with you."

"Perhaps, sir," said the man, laughing, "I'll have had in the course
of my life a better usage and a longer experience of my heels than you
have."

Somewhat startled by a speech of so equivocal a meaning, the youth,
for the first time, turned round to examine, as well as the increasing
darkness would permit, the size and appearance of his companion. He was
not perhaps too well satisfied with his survey. His fellow pedestrian
was about six feet high, and of a corresponding girth of limb and frame,
which would have made him fearful odds in any encounter where bodily
strength was the best means of conquest. Notwithstanding the mildness
of the weather, he was closely buttoned in a rough great-coat, which was
well calculated to give all due effect to the athletic proportions of
the wearer.

There was a pause of some moments.

"This i