The borough town of Lansmere was situated in the county adjoining that which contained the village of Hazeldean.

Late at noon the parson crossed the little stream which divided the two shires, and came to an inn, which was placed at an angle, where the great main road branched off into two directions, the one leading towards Lansmere, the other going more direct to London.

At this inn the pad stopped, and put down both ears with the air of a pad who has made up her mind to bait.

And the parson himself, feeling very warm and somewhat sore, said to the pad, benignly, "It is just,--thou shalt have corn and water!" Dismounting, therefore, and finding himself very stiff as soon as he reached terra firma, the parson consigned the pad to the hostler, and walked into the sanded parlour of the inn, to repose himself on a very hard Windsor chair.
He had been alone rather more than half-an-hour, reading a county newspaper which smelled much of tobacco, and trying to keep off the flies that gathered round him in swarms, as if they had never before seen a parson, and were anxious to ascertain how the flesh of him tasted,--when a stagecoach stopped at the inn.

A traveller got out with his carpetbag in his hand, and was shown into the sanded parlour.
The parson rose politely, and made a bow.
The traveller touched his hat, without taking it off, looked at Mr.
Dale from top to toe, then walked to the window, and whistled a lively, impatient tune, then strode towards the fireplace and rang the bell; then stared again at the parson; and that gentleman having courteously laid down the newspaper, the traveller seized it, threw himself into a chair, flung one of his legs over the table, tossed the other up on the mantelpiece, and began reading the paper, while he tilted the chair on its hind-legs with so daring a disregard to the ordinary position of chairs and their occupants, that the shuddering parson expected every moment to see him come down on the back of his skull.
Moved, therefore, to compassion, Mr.Dale said mildly,--"Those chairs are very treacherous, sir.