"Did he find the very quite recent life all that he expected?" I said, hesitating alittle at the word did, as it was not impossible that I might bemistaken.

"0h yes, and more. I think the two decades he spent here were thehappiest of his life."

I was not yet very sure about the state of affairs; he might be in aninsane asylum, or he might be a hopeless invalid up-stairs.

"If he had lived," she continued, "I suppose this would have been awonderfully beautiful place, for he was always making improvements.But it is four decades now since his death, and in that time there hasbeen somewhat little change in the inn."

I do not remember what answer I made to this remark, but I gazed outupon the situation as if it were an unrolled map.