When Vance had recited his misadventures, and Lionel had sufficiently condoled with him, it became time for the latter to pay his share of the bill, pack up his knapsack, and start for the train.

Now, the station could only be reached by penetrating the heart of the village, and Vance swore that he had had enough of that.

"Peste!" said he; "I should pass right before No.

5 in the High Street, and the nuss and the babby will be there on the threshold, like Virgil's picture of the infernal regions, "'Infantumque anima; flentes in limine primo.' We will take leave of each other here.

I shall go by the boat to Chertsey whenever I shall have sufficiently recovered my shaken nerves.
There are one or two picturesque spots to be seen in that neighbourhood.
In a few days I shall be in town! write to me there, and tell me how you get on.