'What's the matter here ?' 'We were only asleep, Sir,' said Nell.

'We have been walking all night.' 'A pair of queer travellers to be walking all night,' observed the man who had first accosted them.

'One of you is a trifle too old for that sort of work, and the other a trifle too young.

Where are you going ?' Nell faltered, and pointed at hazard towards the West, upon which the man inquired if she meant a certain town which he named.

Nell, to avoid more questioning, said 'Yes, that was the place.' 'Where have you come from ?' was the next question; and this being an easier one to answer, Nell mentioned the name of the village in which their friend the schoolmaster dwelt, as being less likely to be known to the men or to provoke further inquiry.
'I thought somebody had been robbing and ill-using you, might be,' said the man.