“‘Very bad,’ said the landlord. As, of course, being a landlord, he would say.
“‘I want to get on,’ observed Nicholas, hesitating. ‘I scarcely know what to do.’
“‘Don’t let me influence you,’ rejoined the landlord. ‘I wouldn’t go on if it was me.’”
And so here they stayed the night, much to their advantage, in a manner familiar to the readers of Dickens. Of their progress to Portsmouth the next day, with Mr. Vincent Crummles and his troupe, we will say nothing, for no other outstanding features of the road are described between this and Hilsea Lines.
THE “COACH AND HORSES” INN.
CHALTON DOWNS
Oxenbourne Downs are succeeded, on the map, by Chalton (originally “Chalkton”) Downs; but they are all one to the eye that ranges over their almost trackless hills and hollows.