1 70 IDLEHURST I 



well-proportioned and airy, built a century ago for 

 very polite assemblies of the County, now sunk to 

 these uses of the Loyal Saxons, concerts of the Arn- 

 ington Choral Society, and party oratory at election 

 times. The tall windows are open and we look out 

 over the inn garden, pleasant greenery and turf under 

 a quick-dropping rain ; here a clump of orange lilies, 

 here an uncared-for hollyhock. 



Meanwhile, the tables are set with steaming joints, 

 accompanied with long rolls of Sussex pudding ; the 

 Rector smites the board with his carver, says Grace, 

 and we fall on, in absolute silence. The Court eats 

 hugely, and does fearsome things with its knife. The 

 host's two exuberant daughters, in colossal blond 

 fringes, dirty collars, and white waistcoats, journey 

 round the tables with beer jugs; they have a mis- 

 chievous knack of filling up any half-empty glass on 

 the table, so that a man loses reckoning of his capacity, 

 and anticipates the due season. Gradually the 

 tongues loosen, until the room rings with loud talk 

 and rude laughter. At the high table we discuss 

 the promising wheat, the coming price of hay ; or 

 touch on politics of that bland kind which obtains 

 where, as it is in the Weald, all householders are 

 so universally Conservative that there is scarcely a 

 check upon expressing opinions in company. 



