“Was he not her father?”
“Oh, no. He was a young man dressed in grand style. In face he was so like thee that I almost stopped him as I have thee now.”
“And did you make no inquiry at the bar?”
“The tapster was busy; the serving men were strangers to me, and Dodsman was not in sight.”
“And you learned nothing more?”
“No; I mounted and came on.”
“Marry, and why didst thou not wait, and why didst thou not find me before?” questioned the other, in tones of reproof. “It is now near six o’clock and three miles lie between here and London bridge and then another three miles or more to Deptford.”
“Is that not time enough?”
“And how much can one spare from it for a full meal and a glass of Canary at the Red Bull or the Mermaid? I would not chance more than a mug of sack and a square of black bread at the ale-house next to the London wall. And how can one push his horse faster than a walk through such a fog as this? But let us press on.”
Through the fields they proceeded along a wide path unfenced and bordered with stretches of grass and rushes.