whosoever shall lodge him in any jail of the providence.' Better
trudge, boy; better trudge!"

Robin had begun to draw his hand towards the lighter end of the oak
cudgel, but a strange hostility in every countenance induced him to
relinquish his purpose of breaking the courteous innkeeper's head. As
he turned to leave the room, he encountered a sneering glance from the
bold-featured personage whom he had before noticed; and no sooner was
he beyond the door, than he heard a general laugh, in which the
innkeeper's voice might be distinguished, like the dropping of small
stones into a kettle.

"Now, is it not strange," thought Robin, with his usual shrewdness, "is
it not strange that the confession of an empty pocket should outweigh
the name of my kinsman, Major Molineux? Oh, if I had one of those
grinning rascals in the woods, where I and my oak sapling grew up
together, I would teach him that my arm is heavy though my purse be
light!"

On turning the corner of the narrow lane, Robin found himself in a
spacious street, with an unbroken line of lofty houses on each side,
and a steepled building at the upper end, whence the ringing of a bell
announced the hour of nine. The light of the moon, and the lamps from
the numerous shop-windows, discovered people promenading on the
pavement, and amongst them Robin had hoped to recognize his hitherto
inscrutable relative. The result of his former inquiries made him
unwilling to hazard another, in a scene of such publicity, and he
determined to walk slowly and silently up the street, thrusting his
face close to that of every elderly gentleman, in search of the Major's
lineaments. In his progress, Robin encountered many gay and gallant
figures. Embroidered garments of showy colors, enormous periwigs,
gold-laced hats, and silver-hilted swords glided past him and dazzled
his optics. Travelled youths, imitators of the European fine gentlemen
of the period, trod jauntily along, half dancing to the fashionable
tunes which they hummed, and making poor Robin ashamed of his quiet and
natural gait. At length, after many pauses to examine the gorgeous
display of goods in the shop-windows, and after suffering some rebukes
for the impertinence of his scrutiny into people's faces, the Major's
kinsman found himself near the steepled building, still unsuccessful in
his search. As yet, however, he had seen only one side of the thronged
street; so Robin crossed, and continued the same sort of inqui