he was in pursuit than he had been at starting from Wythburn.

In no very amiable mood Robbie set out afresh just as darkness was
coming on, and followed the road as far as the village of Staveley.
Here there was nothing more hopeful to do at a late hour on Monday
night than to seek for a bed and sleep. On Tuesday morning Robbie lost
no time in making inquiries, but he wasted several hours in
ascertaining particulars that were at all reliable and satisfactory.
No one appeared to have seen such a man as Sim, either to-day,
yesterday, or on Sunday.

Robbie was perplexed. He was in doubt if it might not be his best
course to turn back, when a happy inspiration occurred to him.

What had the people said of Sim's shyness and timidity? Why, it was as
clear as noonday that the poor little man would try to avoid the
villages by making a circuit of the fields about them.

With this conviction, Robbie set out again, intending to make no pause
in his next stage until he had reached Kendal. Upon approaching the
villages he looked about for the footpaths that might be expected to
describe short arcs around them; and, following one of these, he
passed a cottage that stood at a corner of a lane. He had made many
fruitless inquiries hitherto, and had received replies that had been
worse than valueless; but he could not resist the temptation to ask at
this house.

Walking round the cottage to where the door opened on the front
farthest from the lane, Robbie entered the open porch. His unfamiliar
footstep brought from an inner room an old woman with a brown and