CHAPTER III.
"You knew--none so well, of my daughter's flight." _Merchant of Venice_, Act iii.Sc.

1.
THE day dawned; it was a mild, damp, hazy morning; the sod sank deep beneath the foot, the roads were heavy with mire, and the rain of the past night lay here and there in broad shallow pools.

Towards the town, waggons, carts, pedestrian groups were already moving; and, now and then, you caught the sharp horn of some early coach, wheeling its be-cloaked outside and be-nightcapped inside passengers along the northern thoroughfare.
A young man bounded over a stile into the road just opposite to the milestone, that declared him to be one mile from -- ----.
"Thank Heaven!" he said, almost aloud.

"After spending the night wandering about morasses like a will-o'-the-wisp, I approach a town at last.

Thank Heaven again, and for all its mercies this night! I breathe freely.