Page:The Mysterious Warning - Parsons (1796, volume 1).djvu/176

 "You are truly welcome (replied the shepherd;) but may I inquire, son, where you are going to on foot, and alone, for it is too late to reach Baden now before the close of night?"

"I came from Baden (said Ferdinand) and am going I know not whither; going to travel."

"To travel?"

"Yes."

"What on foot—alone?"

"And why not, father? I go to see the country, to amuse myself, a horse would be sometimes inconvenient, for instance, a horse could not have brought me here."

"No (replied the old man;) but was there a necessity that you should come here?"

"Not a necessity to come here particularly; but I am on a tour of curiosity, and therefore the lowly valley, or the towering mountain, will equally attract me; I can never be out of my way."

"Strange (said the shepherd, eying him attentively) strange, that a young man, who