94 THE BATH ROAD 



" ' Sirs, I'm no highwayman,' exclaimed the Knight — 

 ' No — there,' rejoined the Runners, ' you are right — 



A footpad only. Yes, we know your trade — 

 Yes, you're a pretty babe of grace ; 

 We want no proofs, old codger, but your face ; 

 So come along with us, old blade.' 



" Sir Joseph told them that a neighb'ring Squire 

 Should answer for it that he was no thief ; 

 On which they plumply daran'd him for a liar, 

 And said such stories should not save his beef ; 

 And, if they understood their trade, 

 His mittimus should soon be made ; 

 And forty pounds be theirs, a pretty sum, 

 For sending such a rogue to Kingdom Come." 



To the Squire, however, they took that distinguished 

 member of Society, who, of course, identified him at 

 once, and bade them beg his pardon. This they did 

 — accordino- to " Peter Pindar " — with a resolution in 

 future not to judge of people by their looks ! 



XVI 



Just before reaching the roadside hamlet of Long- 

 ford, fifteen miles from Hyde Park Corner, a lane 

 leads on the right hand to Harmondsworth, a short 

 mile distant across the wide flat cabbage and potato 

 fields. " Harm's worth," as the rustics call it, is 

 mentioned in Domesday Book, under the name of 

 " Hermondesworde ; " that is to say, Hermoude's 

 sworth or sward, the pasture-land of some forgotten 

 Hermonde. 



Few ever turn aside from the dusty high-road to 



