Chapter XI.

Joseph heads not to his parents’ home, nor even to his sister
Pamela’s, but back to Lady Booby’s country seat, where he will
reunite with his sweetheart, Fanny Goodwill. Joseph and Fanny
have known each other since early life and have long desired to
marry, though they have taken Mr. Adams’s advice in putting off
the day until “a few Years Service and Thrift” will have augmented
both their experience and their finances. In the past year they
have not corresponded with each other, for the very good reason
that Fanny is illiterate.
A hailstorm forces Joseph to take shelter at an inn with a lion on
its sign-post and a master named Timotheus. While Joseph is
waiting for the storm to pass, another traveller enters the inn, and
Joseph recognizes him as the servant of a neighbor of Sir
Thomas. Once the storm has abated, Joseph and this traveller set
out together.