36 From 1850 to 1862 



II 



from those front garden trees was acceded to and 

 undertaken, and thanks were returned for ' letting in 

 light on the services ' ; and the chronic stream of 

 callers at the house, who suffered from the convic- 

 tion that it was occupied by ' the minister,' were 

 courteously informed that it was not, although they 

 nearly drove ' the Doctor ' to doing what nothing 

 else would have induced him to do, namely — to 

 putting up a brass plate. And, after all, that brass 

 plate would not have been anything other than an 

 announcement that ' the minister of the chapel does 

 not live here.' On the other side of that house were 

 two lanes, relics of an old lawsuit for right-of-way — 

 interesting as relics, but otherwise trying, as they 

 harboured all sort of dangerous wild -fowl in the 

 shape of burglars by night and distraught cattle by 

 day, if the gate were open. ' There is something in 

 the lane,' was a war-cry to the little house which 

 was attended to with energy, irrespective of the 

 nature of that something or of the hour at which it 

 occurred. Beyond this sporting region came a row 

 or terrace of houses. The little house was as un- 

 conscious of the existence of that terrace as the 

 Sufee was of the existence of the Sunnite cobbler 

 whom he whacked over the head with his slipper. 

 The terrace used to hurt its feelings by being burgled, 

 and regarding the lanes and the garden of the little 

 house as the cause of its misfortune, because those 

 things harboured evil-doers by night — unwittingly, 

 it was true, for the police were paid to patrol those 



