A B E --, jr^, 



miles distant, and I knew all the inns would be shut 

 up before I could get there. So I munched my bread 

 and meat, consoling myself with the thought that 

 perhaps this was just the ill wind that would blow 

 me the good I was in quest of. I saw no alternative 

 but to spend a night under the trees with the night- 

 ingales ; and I might surprise them at their revels in 

 the small hours of the morning. Just as I was ready 

 to congratulate myself on the richness of my experi- 

 ence, the landlady came in and said there was a 

 young man there going with a " trap " to Godalming, 

 and he had offered to take me in. I feared I should 

 pass for an escaped lunatic if I declined the offer ; so 

 I reluctantly assented, and we were presently whirl- 

 ing through the darkness, along a smooth, winding 

 road, toward town. The young man was a drum- 

 mer ; was from Lincolnshire, and said I spoke like a 

 Lincolnshire man. I could believe it, for I told him 

 he talked more like an American than any native I 

 had met. The hotels in the larger towns close at 

 eleven, and I was set down in front of one just as 

 the clock was striking that hour. I asked to be con- 

 ducted to a room at once. As I was about getting 

 in bed there was a rap at the door, and a waiter 

 presented me my bill on a tray. "Gentlemen as 

 have no luggage, etc.," he explained ; and pretend to 

 be looking for nightingales, too ! Three-and-sixpence ; 

 two shillings for the bed and one-and-six for service. 

 I was out at five in the morning, before any one in- 

 side was astir. After much trying of bars and doors, 



