of life, although not a soul is to be seen. Opposite the house were the
farm-buildings and the farmyard. The gate to the right of the
farm-buildings led into the meadow, and thus anybody sitting in the front
rooms could see the barges slowly and silently towed from the sea to the
uplands and back again, the rising ground beyond, and so on to Thingleby,
whose little spire just emerged above the horizon. The river, deep and
sluggish for the most part, was fringed with willows on the side opposite
the towing-path. At the bridge, just where the ford used to be, it was
broken into shallows, over which the stream slipped faster, and here and
there there were not above two or three feet of water, so that sometimes
the barges were almost aground. The farmhouse was not quite ideal. It
was plain red brick, now grey and lichen-covered, about a hundred years
old; the windows were white-painted, with heavy frames, and the only
attempt at ornament was a kind of porch over the front door, supported by
brackets, but with no sides to it. Nevertheless, it had its charms. Save
on the northern side, where it was backed by the huge elms in the home-
field, it lay bare to the winds, breezy, airy, full of light. In summer
the front door was always open, and even when it was shut in cold weather
no knocker was ever used. If a visitor came by daylight he was always
seen, and if after dark he was heard. The garden, which lay on the west
side of the house and at the back, was rather warm in hot weather, but
was delicious. Under the wall on the north side the apricot and Orleans
plum ripened well, and round to the right was the dairy, always cool,
sweet, and clean, with the big elder trees before the barred window.

The mistress of the house, Mrs. Bellamy, was not a very robust woman. She
was generally ailing, but never very seriously ill. She had had two
children, but they had both died. Mrs. Bellamy's mind, unoccupied with
parental cares, with politics, or with literature, let itself loose upon
her house, her dairy, and her fowls. She established a series of