t any longer," said Daffydowndilly to himself, when he
had been at school about a week. "I'll run away and try to find my dear
mother; and, at any rate, I shall never find anybody half so
disagreeable as this old Mr. Toil!"

So the very next morning, off started poor Daffydowndilly, and began his
rambles about the world, with only some bread and cheese for his
breakfast, and very little pocket-money to pay his expenses. But he had
gone only a short distance when he overtook a man of grave and sedate
appearance, who was trudging at a moderate pace along the road.

"Good-morning, my lad," said the stranger; and his voice seemed hard and
severe, but yet had a sort of kindness in it. "Whence do you come so
early, and whither are you going?"

Little Daffydowndilly was a boy of a very ingenuous disposition, and had
never been known to tell a lie in all his life. Nor did he tell one now.
He hesitated a moment or two, but finally confessed that he had run away
from school, on account of his great dislike for Mr. Toil; and that he
was resolved to find some place in the world where he should never see
or hear of the old schoolmaster again.

"Oh, very well, my little friend!" answered the stranger. "Then we will
go together; for I, likewise, have had a good deal to do with Mr. Toil,
and should be glad to find some place where he was never heard of."

Our friend Daffydowndilly would have been better pleased with a
companion of his own age, with whom he might have gathered flowers along
the road-side, or have chased butterflies, or have done many other
things to make the journey pleasant. But he had wisdom enough to
understand that he should get along through the world much easier by
having a man of experience to show him the way. So he accepted the
stranger's proposal, and they walked on very sociably together.

They had not gone far, when the road passed by a field where some
haymakers were at work, mowing down the tall grass and spreading it out
in the sun to dry. Daffydowndilly was delighted with the sweet smell of
the new-mown grass, and thought how much pleasanter it must be to make
hay in the sunshine under the blue sky, and with the birds singing
sweetly in the neighbouring trees and bushes, than to be shut up in a
dismal school-room, learning lessons all day long, and continually
scolded by old Mr. Toil. But, in the midst of these thoughts, while he
was stopping to peep over the stone wall, he started back and caught