Which Contains Much Idle Speculation

The appearance at The Blue Dragon of a stranger - coming nobody knew whence, and going nobody knew whither - quite naturally became the chief subject of all idle conversation in the neighbouring village, which lay within an easy journey of the fair town of Salisbury. The intelligence that the mysterious gentleman was a perfect stranger even unto himself excited no small amount of curiosity nor any lesser degree of speculation. Was he a nobleman come in disguise amongst simple country folk to perform secret acts of philanthropy? Was he the heir to a great fortune, cast out by an ungrateful parent to whom he would one day be reconciled? Was he a man of great trade who had been set upon by footpads in a dusky lane and robbed of all his worldly possessions? How else to explain the fact that his pockets were empty, his pantaloons were torn and his jacket out at the elbows? Had the unfortunate traveller received a blow to the head from a ruffian's cudgel? How else to explain his wild ravings and his constant call for strong liquor? These deep questions and many others were the matter of much rumination amongst the regulars of the Dragon when they supped their ale in the bar below the very room where the stranger slept.