Singlewell, however, must not be confused with St Thomas's
well a mile further on the road, which is still used and still known
as St Thomas's well.
All this proved to me that I was indeed upon the old road, and so I
went on across Cobham Park without a thought of the great house,
intent now on the noble city of Rochester, which presently as I came
over the last hill I saw standing in all its greatness over the broad
river of Medway, its mighty castle four square upon the further bank.
Then was I confirmed in my heart in the words of Chaucer--
Lo Rouchestre stant here fast by.
CHAPTER III
THE PILGRIMS' ROAD
ROCHESTER
One comes down the hill into Rochester, through Strood, on this side
the Medway, to find little remaining of interest in a place that has
now become scarcely more than a suburb of the episcopal city. Some
memory, however, lingers still in Strood of St Thomas, for certain
folks there hated him and to spite him one day as he rode through the
village they cut the tail from his horse. Mark now the end of this
misdeed. In Strood thereafter everyone of their descendants was born,
it is said, with a tail, even as the brutes which perish.
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