CHAPTER II 

 A Brick House with a Past 



Something like twenty-five miles 

 from the great city's congested centre, 

 if your course has been rightly laid, 

 you will come upon what appears to 

 be the entrance to a country estate 

 of some importance. There are two 

 brick piers with gates of iron which 

 commonly stand ajar. If you enter 

 and are of an observing turn of mind, 

 you may note in passing that the 

 designer of these gates has used as 

 a decoration in working out the de- 

 tail of his conception the figure of a 

 heart. 



In that field on your left there will 

 be corn or oats or meadow depend- 

 ing upon the stage of crop rotation 

 registered for that particular season 

 [21] 



