noon
The morning advanced , and by-and-by he began to meet a fellow-creature now and then upon the road ; but at sight of everyone a feeling rose in him such as he had never had towards human being before : they seemed somehow of a different kind from those in the town , and they did not look friendly as they passed . He did not know that he presented to them a very different countenance from that which his fellow-citizens had always seen him wear ; for the mingled and conflicting emotions of his spirit had sent out upon it an expression which , accompanied by the misery of his garments , might well , to the superficial or inexperienced observer , convey the idea that he was a fugitive and guilty . He was so uncomfortable at length from the way the people he met scrutinized him that , when he saw anyone coming , he would instantly turn aside and take the covert of thicket , or hedge , or stone wall , until the bearer of eyes had passed . His accustomed trot , which he kept up for several hours , made him look the more suspicious ; but his feet , hardened from very infancy as they were , soon found the difference between the smooth flags and the sharp stones of the road , and before noon he was walking at quite a sober , although still active , pace . Doubtless it slackened the sooner that he knew no goal , no end to his wandering . Up Daurside was the one vague notion he had of his calling , his destiny , and with his short , quick step , his progress was considerable ; he passed house after house , farm after farm ; but , never in the way of asking for anything , though as little in the way of refusing , he went nearer none of them than the road led him . Besides , the houses were very unlike those in the city , and not at all attractive to him .