For he looked so grave and noble that, despite his ragged clothes, it seemed presumptuous to ask him who he was.

While I doubted how to begin, he spared me the trouble.
"Are you going to Oxford ?" said he.
"I am," said I.

"I was to reach there this night, but lost my way; and even yet do not know how near I am." "Not an hour from the cursed place," said he, giving his student's cap, which lay on the floor at his feet, a little kick.
"Then it agrees not with you ?" said I.
"Agrees!" said he, and then dropped silent, far more eloquently than if he had spoken a volume.
"Pray, sir," said I, after an awkward pause, "do you know one Master Penry of Saint Alban Hall ?" He laughed at that.
"The Welshman?
Verily, I know him.

What do you want with him ?" "I am to deliver him a letter from my master.

Can you take me to him ?" "No," said my companion, "for I shall never enter Oxford again." "Is your term done, then ?" I asked.
"For me it is," said he.