They were moving southwards towards London--so much had been agreed--and they proposed to arrive there in another month or so.

But the country was unfamiliar to him, and the people seemed grudging and uncouth.

They had twice been refused the use of an outhouse for the night, that afternoon.
It seemed an extraordinarily deserted road.

There were no lights from houses, so far as he could make out, and the four miles that had been declared at their last stopping-place to separate them from the next village appeared already more like five or six.

Certainly the three of them had between two and three shillings, all told; there was no actual need of a workhouse just yet, but naturally it was wished to spend as little as possible.
Then on a sudden he caught a glimpse of a light burning somewhere, that appeared and vanished again as he moved, and fifty yards more brought him to a wide sweep, a pair of gate-posts with the gate fastened back, and a lodge on the left-hand side.