How far is it to W----?
I hope I am not out of the direct road ?" "To W----, sir ?" said the man, touching his hat, as he perceived, in spite of the dusk, something in the air and voice of his new acquaintance which called for a greater degree of respect than he was at first disposed to accord to a pedestrian traveller,--"to W----, sir?
why, you will not surely go there to-night?
it is more than eight miles distant, and the roads none of the best." "Now, a curse on all rogues!" quoth the youth, with a serious sort of vivacity.

"Why, the miller at the foot of the hill assured me I should be at my journey's end in less than an hour." "He may have said right, sir," returned the man, "yet you will not reach W---- in twice that time." "How do you mean ?" said the younger stranger.
"Why, that you may for once force a miller to speak truth in spite of himself, and make a public-house, about three miles hence, the end of your day's journey." "Thank you for the hint," said the youth.

"Does the house you speak of lie on the road-side ?" "No, sir: the lane branches off about two miles hence, and you must then turn to the right; but till then our way is the same, and if you would not prefer your own company to mine we can trudge on together." "With all my heart," rejoined the younger stranger; "and not the less willingly from the brisk pace you walk.

I thought I had few equals in pedestrianism; but it should not be for a small wager that I would undertake to keep up with you." "Perhaps, sir," said the man, laughing, "I'll have had in the course of my life a better usage and a longer experience of my heels than you have." Somewhat startled by a speech of so equivocal a meaning, the youth, for the first time, turned round to examine, as well as the increasing darkness would permit, the size and appearance of his companion.

He was not perhaps too well satisfied with his survey.