146 IDLEHURST : 



at last, and the lifelong shadow of the Union gone 

 for ever. 



Before I reached the garden gate the rain was 

 over, and the grey evening lifted to show a pale 

 golden line in the west. Hope stirred livelier in 

 various directions ; for old Walder and all his mates ; 

 for pension schemes, public or private ; for a fair 

 to-morrow ; for Lucy Sayers' experiments in Mutton 

 Surprised and the Flummery Solomon's Temple, 

 which the punctual dinner-bell announced at that 

 moment to be ready for proof. As I came up the 

 still dripping garden, I thought, by a whimsical con- 

 trast, of Piccadilly at that hour ; the dim light, the 

 lamps beginning to glimmer on the drenched pave- 

 ments, the dull thunder of the omnibuses going by 

 in the steam of their own horses, the moist crowd 

 wading to the refuge through the spirting mud j and 

 came back with relief to the placid close of my wet 

 day in the country. 



i%th. Heavy showers of late, ending in one whole 

 day of quiet rain, put the garden in tune, and allowed 

 me to leave flowers and herbs to their own devices 

 and the restricted ministrations of Bish for a term. 

 It is in a man's power to make the quality of a 

 holiday independent of its outward conditions : by 

 steady antecedent minding of home-affairs, a week's 



