As I ate my luncheon I felt as if I were consuming
what was their property, and pondered the supposition that some day
the spell might be broken, and the stone-bound couple came down from
those high pedestals, and go dancing and fiddling into the Farnham
streets.
They showed no symptoms of moving whilst we remained, and, duly
refreshed, we now proceeded on our way. I rejected the offer of a seat
inside the carriage with scorn, and Nurse and I clambered back to our
perch. No easy matter for either of us, by the way!--Nurse Bundle
being so much too large, and I so much too small, to compass the feat
with anything approaching to ease.
I was greatly pleased with the dreary beauties of Bagshot Heath, and
Nurse Bundle (to whom the whole journey was familiar) enlivened this
part of our way by such anecdotes of Dick Turpin, the celebrated
highwayman, as she deemed suitable for my amusement. With what
interest I gazed at the little house by the roadside where Turpin was
wont to lodge, and where, arriving late one night, he demanded
beef-steak for supper in terms so peremptory that, there being none in
the house, the old woman who acted as his housekeeper was obliged to
walk, then and there, to the nearest town to procure it! This and
various other incidents of the robber's career I learned from Nurse
Bundle, who told me that traditions of his exploits and character
were still fresh in the neighbouring villages.
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