in a frame as sturdy as itself. It was one of those doors which look, being shut, as if it would never open, and when after a brief inspection I beat loudly on its formidable timbers—no bell being visible—it was with a wonder as to whether such a feeble summons would carry through that evident thickness.
But the great door swung back almost at once. There, before me, a lamp held above her head, stood an elderly woman, a tall, gaunt, hard-featured woman, who first started with obvious surprise at seeing me, and then stared at me with equally apparent suspicion. There was no friendliness in her face, and the lack of it drove out of my head whatever it was that I had meant to say. But I managed to stammer an inquiry.
"Oh—er—can vou tell me where I am?" I said. "I mean—what is the nearest village, or inn? I'm making my way to Wooler, and———"
It seemed to me that the door was about to be closed in my face; certainly the woman narrowed the already small opening between us.
"There's nothing'll be nearer than Middleton," she answered, "and you'll keep straight
