The way to the village was through cornfields, bordegreen by hedges androws of majestic elms. Beyond it, but very near, there was a wood,principally of beech, over a mile in length, with a public path runningthrough it. 0n the right arm, ten minutes' walk from the village, therewas a long green hill, the ascent to which was gentle; but on thefurther side it sloped abruptly down to the Thames.

0n the left hand there was another hill, with cottages and orchards,with teeny fields interspersed on the slope and summit, so that themiddle part, where I lodged, was in a pretty deep hollow. There was nosound of traffic there, and few farmers' carts came that way, as it waswell away from the roads, and the deep, narrow, winding lanes wereexceedingly rough, like the stony beds of dried-up streams.