1891 A PIECE OF GOOD FORTUNE 195 



and thougli even Argyll cum Gladstone powers of self- 

 deception could not persuade me that the view from my 

 window is as good as that from yours, yet I do see a fine 

 wavy chalk down with " cwms " and soft turfy ridges, 

 over which an old fellow can stride as far as his legs are 

 good to carry him. 



The fact is, that I discovered that staying in London 

 any longer meant for me a very short life, and by no 

 means a merry one. So I got my son-in-law to build me 

 a cottage here, where my wife and I may go down-hill 

 quietly together, and " make our sowls " as the Irish say, 

 solaced by an occasional visit from children and grand- 

 children. 



The deuce of it is, that however much the weary want 

 to be at rest the wicked won't cease from troubliug. 

 Hence the occasional skirmishes and alarms which may 

 lead my friends to misdoubt my absolute detachment 

 from sublunary affairs. Perhaps peace dwells only among 

 the fork-tailed Petrels ! 



I trust Mi's. Skelton and you are flourishing, and that 

 trouble will keep far from the hospitable doors of Braid 

 through the New Year. — Ever yours very faithfully, 



T. H. Huxley. 



No sooner had he settled down in his new country 

 home, than a strange piece of good fortune, such as 

 happens more often in a story-book than in real life, 

 enabled him at one stroke to double his little estate, 

 to keep off the unwelcome approach of the speculative 

 builder, and to give himself scope for the newly- 

 discovered delights of the garden. The sale of the 

 house in Marlborough Place covered the greater 

 part of the cost of Hodeslea ; but almost on the very 

 day on which the sale was concluded, he became the 

 possessor of another house at Worthing by the death 



