ender words, smiled at his thinking they could
ever part, and rallied him cheerfully upon the jest. He was soon
calmed and fell asleep, singing to himself in a low voice, like a
little child.

He awoke refreshed, and they continued their journey. The road was
pleasant, lying between beautiful pastures and fields of corn, about
which, poised high in the clear blue sky, the lark trilled out her
happy song. The air came laden with the fragrance it caught upon its
way, and the bees, upborne upon its scented breath, hummed forth their
drowsy satisfaction as they floated by.

They were now in the open country; the houses were very few and
scattered at long intervals, often miles apart. Occasionally they came
upon a cluster of poor cottages, some with a chair or low board put
across the open door to keep the scrambling children from the road,
others shut up close while all the family were working in the fields.
These were often the commencement of a little village: and after an
interval came a wheelwright's shed or perhaps a blacksmith's forge;
then a thriving farm with sleepy cows lying about the yard, and horses
peering over the low wall and scampering away when harnessed horses
passed upon the road, as though in triumph at their freedom. There
were dull pigs too, turning up the ground in search of dainty food, and
grunting their monotonous grumblings as they prowled about, or crossed
each other in their quest; plump pigeons skimming round the roof or
strutting on the eaves; and ducks and geese, far more graceful in their
own conceit, waddling awkwardly about the edges of the pond or sailing
glibly on its surface. The farm-yard passed, then came the little inn;
the humbler beer-shop; and the village tradesman's; then the lawyer's
and the parson's, at whose dread names the beer-shop trembled; the
church then peeped out modestly from a clump of trees; then there were
a few more cottages; then the cage, and pound, and not unfrequently, on
a bank by the way-side, a deep old dusty well. Then came the
trim-hedged fields on either hand, and the open road again.

They walked all day, and slept that night at a small cottage where beds
were let to travellers. Next morning they were afoot again, and though
jaded at first, and very tired, recovered before long and proceeded
briskly forward.

They often stopped to rest, but only for a short space at a time, and
still kept on, having had but slight refreshment since the mornin