en the name of
Dorsetshire was studiously avoided. And yet we were making progress all
the time, tacking across broad England like an unweatherly vessel on a
wind; approaching our destination, not openly, but by a sort of flying
sap. And at length, I can scarce tell how, we were set down by a
dilatory butt-end of local train on the untenanted platform of
Stallbridge-Minster.

The town was ancient and compact--a domino of tiled houses and walled
gardens, dwarfed by the disproportionate bigness of the church. From the
midst of the thoroughfare which divided it in half, fields and trees were
visible at either end; and through the sally-port of every street there
flowed in from the country a silent invasion of green grass. Bees and
birds appeared to make the majority of the inhabitants; every garden had
its row of hives, the eaves of every house were plastered with the nests
of swallows, and the pinnacles of the church were flickered about all day
long by a multitude of wings. The town was of Roman foundation; and as I
looked out that afternoon from the low windows of the inn, I should
scarce have been surprised to see a centurion coming up the street with a
fatigue draft of legionaries. In short, Stallbridge-Minster was one of
those towns which appear to be maintained by England for the instruction
and delight of the American rambler; to which he seems guided by an
instinct not less surprising than the setter's; and which he visits and
quits with equal enthusiasm.

I was not at all in the humour of the tourist. I had wasted weeks of
time and accomplished nothing; we were on the eve of the engagement, and
I had neither plans nor allies. I had thrust myself into the trade of
private providence, and amateur detective; I was spending money and I
was reaping disgrace. All the time I kept telling myself that I must at
least speak; that this ignominious silence should have been broken long
ago, and must be broken now. I should have broken it when he first
proposed to come to Stallbridge-Minster; I should have broken it in the
train; I should break it there and then, on the inn doorstep, as the
omnibus rolled off. I turned toward him at the thought; he seemed to
wince, the words died on my lips, and I proposed instead that we should
visit the Minster.

While we were engaged upon this duty, it came on to rain in a manner
worthy of the tropics. The vault reverberated; every gargoyle instantly
poured its full discharge; we waded b