THROUGH FIRS AND HEATHER. 295 



called miles means two good honest ones. This 

 appears to be one of the few unpleasant peculiarities 

 of this very rustic population. After a course of 

 questioning, we do at last reach the spot inquired 

 for, but not a bit too soon. Thankful to rest for 

 the night, we mentally resolve to clear out early 

 next day and go farther afield. ' The morning is a 

 bright and fresh one, and we jog further, making for 

 the heart of this wild land. On a lonely road we 

 pass two inns, or what in the old coaching days, 

 when they ran from London to Portsmouth, used to 

 be inns ; now public-houses would be the correct 

 name for them. There is one on each side of the 

 road. That they have been there for very many 

 years the exteriors plainly show. They have the 

 look of past generations stamped on them. Directly 

 opposite to the larger of these, divided by a narrow 

 road only just wide enough to let two vehicles pass 

 each other, stands a most incongruous-looking build- 

 ing, a brand-new, spick-and-span coffee-tavern, built 

 in the so-called Gothic style, the outside woodwork 

 painted with the latest aesthetic green colour. The 

 plate-glass windows, the lower ones, were intended 

 to be highly artistic. No words of mine could 



