"Are you going to walk all the way?"

"Yes, unless somebody offers me a ride now and then."

"But why don't you ride in the stage, or in the cars? You would get
there a good deal quicker."

"One reason," said Paul, hesitating a little, "is because I have no
money to pay for riding."

"Then how do you expect to live? Have you had any breakfast, this
morning?"

"I brought some with me, and just got through eating it when you came
along."

"And where do you expect to get any dinner?" pursued his questioner, who
was evidently not a little puzzled by the answers he received.

"I don't know," returned Paul.

His companion looked not a little confounded at this view of the matter,
but presently a bright thought struck him.

"I shouldn't wonder," he said, shrewdly, "if you were running away."

Paul hesitated a moment. He knew that his case must look a little
suspicious, thus unexplained, and after a brief pause for reflection
determined to take the questioner into his confidence. He did this the
more readily because his new acquaintance looked very pleasant.