On a September evening, before the setting of the sun, a man entered the tavern of the Ship in Thursley, with a baby under his arm. The tavern sign, rudely painted, bore, besides a presentment of a vessel, the inscription on one side of the board: - "Now before the hill you climb, Come and drink good ale and wine." On the other side of the board the legend was different. It ran thus: - "Now the hill you're safely over, Drink, your spirits to recover." The tavern stood on the high-road side between Godalming and Portsmouth; that is to say the main artery of communication between London and Portsmouth.