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when I remembered about my watch; but they comforted me with the assurance that transgression in this matter was now so unheard of, that the law could afford to be lenient towards an utter stranger, especially towards one who had such a good character (they meant physique), and such beautiful light hair. Moreover the watch was a real curiosity, and would be a welcome addition to the metropolitan collection; so they did not think that I need let it trouble me seriously.

I will write, however, more fully upon this subject when I deal with the Colleges of Unreason, and the Book of the Machines.

In about a month from the time of our starting I was told that our journey was nearly over. The bandage was now dispensed with, it being considered impossible that I should ever be able to find my way back without being captured. Then we rolled merrily along through the streets of a handsome town, and got on to a long, broad, and level road, with poplar trees on either side. The road was raised slightly above the surrounding country, and had formerly been a railway; the fields on either side were in the highest conceivable cultivation, and were now bursting into life under the advancing spring. The weather had got warmer more rapidly than could be quite accounted for by the progress of the season; so I felt sure that we must have been making towards the sun, and were some degrees nearer the equator than when we started; for the spring was earlier, and the vegetation more southern than even that of France. Yet there seemed no lack of vigour among the people; on the contrary, they were a very hardy race, and