The road by which I usually approached the house lay, for some little distance, sufficiently in sight of its windows to enable the woman to retire out of the way before I arrived.

There was, however, another path, through fields at the back of the village, which, owing to the situation of the ground, allowed of an approach unperceived, till a visitor reached the very cottage itself.
One morning, soon after the sacramental interview related in my last paper, I chose _this_ road for my visit.

It was preferable to me on every account.

The distance was not quite half a mile from my house.

The path was retired.