Not many yards beyond the house the road passed beneath a railway bridge, then over a canal, and at once entered upon the common.

The Heath formed the long side of a slowly rising hill; at the foot the road divided itself into two branches, and the dusty tracks climbed at a wide angle with each other.

The one which Emily and her father pursued led up to stone quarries, which had been for a long time in working, and, skirting these, to the level ground above them, which was the end of the region of furze and bracken.

Here began a spacious tract of grassy common; around it were houses of pleasant appearance, one or two meriting the name of mansion.

In one of them dwelt Mr.Richard Dagworthy, the mill-owner, in whose counting-house James Hood earned his living.