recovered his money, or nearly all of it, he relates how about ten o'clock he took coach back to London. "My gold I put into a basket, and set under one of the seats; and so my work every quarter of an hour was to look to see whether all was well; and I did ride in great fear all day." And small wonder, for if any of the "gentlemen of the road" had "got wind" of Mr. Pepys's exploit, it is more than probable that they would have eased him of his treasure; even without such knowledge, there was just a possibility of a misadventure at their hands. The only pleasant part of that memorable journey must have been the ending thereof. I wonder whether Mr. Pepys ever heard of the tradition, which has found its way as historic fact into some of our school-books, that "in Saxon times the highways were so secure that a man might walk safely the whole length and breadth of the land, with a bag of gold in his hand." The "in Saxon times," however, calls to my mind the inevitable beginning of the good old-fashioned fairy stories, "Once upon a time." Both terms are rather suggestive of romancing; at least they put back dates to a safely distant period!
On the church tower at Brampton, which stands close to the roadside, is the date 1635 plainly carved in stone, and to-day as sharp and clear as when first chiselled over two eventful centuries ago. From Brampton we drove to Huntingdon. About midway between those places we passed, on a triangular bit of green, a gray stone obelisk surmounted by a ball. At first we imagined that we had come across
