2 EVERSLEY GARDENS 



as the foot crushed them, and the boys, now 

 well-to-do fathers of families, staid Church- 

 wardens and Parish Councillors, hunted for 

 stone-chats' nests. The meadow, an acre and 

 a quarter, sloped gently from the high-road on 

 the south to the west and north with a fall of 

 some twelve feet. This was my land of pro- 

 mise ; and here I decided to build a shelter for 

 my old age. 



Of course neighbours and friends were 

 lavish in advice, in discouragement, in warn- 

 ings, even in disapprobation. But as the only 

 human being to whose judgment I absolutely 

 defer knowing it to be sound, wise, and far- 

 seeing gave me her approbation ; and as, 

 indeed, I had no one to please but myself, I 

 bought the land, with two more charming old 

 meadows behind the Holly hedge that run 

 down to the little river dividing Hampshire 

 from Berkshire, eight acres in all. It was an 

 ancient holding, known as Keys ; and a sore 

 puzzle has that name been to all and sundry. 

 Some direct to me at "The Keys," which 

 only suggests a low public-house or gin-palace. 



