CHAPTER XXXI 



ISSUE OF THE BEST HUNDRED BOOKS (1898) 



(Age 64) 



On one occasion, when staying at High Elms, I 

 happened to have a dressing-room near Sir 

 John's study, and as I was getting up heard his 

 voice dehvering a more or less continuous 

 harangue, broken by certain intervals, so that it 

 seemed as if he must be reading family prayers. 

 I was much surprised, for I had never known 

 this particular form of religious exercise to be a 

 habit of the household. The Sundays at High 

 Elms were days on which perfect liberty of action 

 and of conscience were permitted. Sir John 

 himself and some of the family always went to 

 the Parish Church, whither there was a delightful 

 walk down the drive and up through a copse, 

 and guests who cared to accompany them were 

 welcomed, but the idea of the church-going was 

 not thrust upon them in any way which made it 

 difficult to decline, if they did not wish to go, and 

 in the afternoon there was no prohibition on the 

 playing of fives or golf or lawn-tennis. If anything 

 occurred to prevent Sir John's usual attendance 

 at church on Sunday mornings, he made a rule of 



